KARACHI: Ibad urged to take notice of violations: Promotions of teachers in Dow varsity
KARACHI, May 23: The Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi chapter, has appealed to Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, who is also the Chancellor of Dow University of Health Sciences, to take notice of alleged violation of merit in the appointment of teachers at one of the oldest and most prestigious medical education centre in the country.
Addressing a joint press conference on Monday, PMA Karachi President Dr Haseeb Alam, General Secretary Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Joint Secretary Dr Furqan Zafar, Dr Aziz Khan Tank of College of Family Physician, Dr Habib Soomro and Dr Mirza Ali Azhar observed the absolute disregard for merit and qualification in fresh appointments of teachers and promotion of teaching staff of Dow Medical College, an integral part of DUHS.
They said that the matter was directly linked to the quality of health care providers the institution would be producing in the coming years.
They cited different instances when despite availability of much qualified and experienced professionals, only those having personal contacts but not that much qualification were appointed.
The doctors said that notification of these appointments had not been issued and perhaps time was being taken so that aggrieved candidates might not seek justice within stipulated time period.
It was reminded that DUHS charter extended preference to qualification over seniority yet some of the competent candidates were rejected by the selection board on basis of their being junior to some senior professionals who but were less qualified.
It was stated that 15 lady doctors associated with Civil Hospital Karachi had applied for the post of Assistant Professor, Obstetric and Gynaecology yet only two were qualified including one who had not practised obstetrics for the last five years.
“Ironically, one of the 15 applicants included a lady doctor who had done her FCPS from Pakistan and MRCOG from the UK but was not deemed fit for the post,” they said. Similarly, a candidate with vast experience and FCPS in orthopaedics was not selected for the post of professor while the one who had failed in FCPS exam held only last month was preferred over the former, the PMA office-bearers regretted.
According to them, the post for professor in psychiatry was not advertised while a doctor holding a diploma in the subject which was also not recognized by the PMDC was assigned the responsibility to head the department.
The PMA office-bearers expressed hope that the governor may take notice of the situation and intervene ultimately restoring trust of qualified, dedicated and committed individuals and professionals in the system. Otherwise, they feared the country would continue facing the massive brain drain and lack of trust among segments genuinely interested in serving the country.
Meanwhile in an open letter sent to the DUHS syndicate, Dr Mohammad Muneer Quraishy, Associated Professor of Ophthalmology, DUHS and Head of Ophthalmology Department, Lyari General Hospital, had expressed his serious reservations regarding the results of the interview recently conducted for the recruitment of the post of professor of ophthalmology at the DUHS.
He alleged that one of the experts called as the member of interview board, (that interviewed Dr Muneer Quraishy) was biased against him and the fact was known to all since long.
Dr Mohammad Muneer Quraishy mentioned that he had been a member of the faculty of the Dow Medical College for the last 10 years and was the senior most associate professor of the faculty of ophthalmology.
According to him, he has been trained and qualified from centres of international excellence in the UK with original research articles published in international indexed journals. Despite all these facts, he regretted that he was not considered for the promotion against the post of professorship in ophthalmology.
