Dr Abid restored as KGMC principal

PESHAWAR: The Board of Governors (BoG) of Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) on Tuesday restored a senior faculty member, Prof Dr Abid Hussain, as Khyber Girls Medical College (KGMC) principal. KGMC is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first and lone public sector girls medical college, located in Hayatabad. The Health Department had replaced Prof Dr Abid Hussain with senior gynaecologist, Prof Dr Iqbal Begum, as KGMC principal on August 28 on acting charge basis.

The move had created an impression that the department wasn’t sincere in respecting the Medical and Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015 ?that had given full autonomy to all the four tertiary care hospitals of the province. This had brought the provincial Health Department and Board of Governors (BoG) at loggerheads, which was considered direct interference in affairs of the autonomous medical institution by the Health Department.

The government later held appointment order of Dr Iqbal Begum in abeyance and gave the additional charge of the college principal to Prof Dr Noor Wazir, Medical Director of Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC).

She is head of Gynaecology Department HMC and was working as project director and principal of the Gajju Khan Medical College in Swabi. According to a notification, the BoG restored Prof Dr Abid Hussain to his previous position and relieved Prof Dr Noor Wazir of his additional responsibility.

Though Dr Iqbal Begum served the college briefly, she was the first female principal of the college since its establishment in 2004 by the clergy-led Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Prof Abid Hussain had served the college for more than two years and is supposed to complete his three-year term in February 2016. Some insiders said a former bureaucrat, Sahibzada Mohammad Saeed, who is chairman BoG, played his role and restored ?Dr Abid Hussain so that he could retire with honour and dignity as principal of the medical college.