PESHAWAR: The process of making top appointments at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) is nearing completion that will pave the way for implementation of Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, enforced by the provincial government last year to improve patients’ care, according to officials.

The process remained in limbo for more than one year, first owing to delay by the government and then by lawsuits filed by doctors, paramedics and nurses etc. However, now it seems that things have been started moving fast.

The Board of Governors at KTH will give approval to one name from a panel of three persons selected after the interviews held on April 25 for the post of hospital director. The meeting of the board, scheduled for Saturday, will appoint a hospital director for a period of three years with performance-based further extension, according to officials.

Recruitment on top positions will pave way for enforcement of new health law

A total of 84 candidates had applied for the post and 14 of them were short-listed by a six-member committee, headed by Prof Syed Mairaj Shah, director operations of Agha Khan University Karachi. Prof Nadeem Khawar, Prof Mah Munir Khan, Prof Mohammad Ibrar, Associate Professor Bashir Ahmad and Aqeela Shaheen were members of the committee.

The interview to select medical director for KTH will take place next week while post of dean at Khyber Medical College and Khyber College of Dentistry couldn’t be filled owing to stay order issued by Peshawar High Court.

“Once the hospital gets services of permanent medical director and hospital director then it will recruit finance director and nursing director as mentioned in MTIRA,” said officials.

HMC has already appointed medical director, hospital director, nursing director, finance director and dean of Khyber Girls Medical College through a private firm. For each of the post, about 15 to 20 candidates had submitted applications. “Different committees are conducting interviews of the people, whose names were short-listed by an international firm,” BoG chairman Sahibzada Mohammad Saeed told Dawn.

He said that they would complete the process to appoint people on key positions by first week of next month as a meeting to accord approval to the names was being convened.

“We need space to start institution-based practice, one of the important components of MTTRA, as early as possible,” said Mr Saeed. He said that they had asked the government for allotment of the building of Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) after its devolution but Peshawar High Court issued a stay order owing to which the plan to start institution-based practice couldn’t be materialised immediately.

HMC had also taken about half of the PGMI staffers, who had opted to be institutional employees and desperately needed its spacious buildings to house OPD and offices etc, said Mr Saeed.

He said that the administration offices were being shifted from its present location to make space for OPD. “We have started evening OPD from 3pm to 9pm.

Initially, patients weren’t coming because they didn’t know about it but now patients flow has risen to 600 per day from 50 to 100 three months ago when we started it,” he said.

Mr Saeed said that the entire hospital was being renovated. “New equipments are being acquired,” he added.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2016