LARKANA: A batch of 40 senior faculty members of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University (SMBBMU) demonstrated outside the press club on Saturday to protest the university management’s dilly-dallying on issuing them promotion orders despite their having qualified for it.

Speaking to journalists, leaders of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Larkana chapter, and the Chandka Teachers Association (CTA) criticised SMBBMU vice chancellor Prof Ghulam Asghar Channa for putting on hold issuance of promotion letters at the pretext of Sindh government’s ‘ban’ on appointments.

Dr Shaista Hifaz Abro, vice chairperson of CTA, and general secretary Dr Raja Lakhir showed documentary proofs to journalists and said they had got through a process which began in December 2014. A selection committee conducted their interviews Aug on 8 and 9 and cleared them for promotion to vacant seats.

She said the SMBBMU syndicate unanimously approved the committee’s decision in its Aug 18, 2015, meeting whose minutes were circulated among members to verify the decision, they said.

But afterwards, she said citing some sources, when a notification was to be issued about it, the matter was referred to the vice chancellor who returned to the registrar Prof Dr Sikandar Mughal with a note, asking him to put it on the backburner as the Sindh government had imposed a ban of appointments.

She said the move undoubtedly caused unrest among the qualified faculty members and added that unlike SMBBMU management, the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences, Nawabshah, had offered selected candidates different posts in light of recommendations of the selection board.

Dr Shahbaig Chandio, president of PMA’s Larkana chapter, and CTA leaders urged in their statements the VC of SMBBMU to issue offer orders within three days. If the process was hampered again, they would shut the Chandka Medical College and all hospitals affiliated it, they warned.

They showed surprise at the government decision to affiliate the Larkana Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy with PMC and the Gambat Institute of Health Sciences with Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences. “We fear, one day the Sindh government will affiliate CMC with the Dow Medical University, Karachi,” they said.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2015

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