ISLAMABAD: On the intervention of the Supreme Court, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and Polyclinic on Thursday got permanent heads after an interval of nine and two years, respectively.

The last permanent head of Pims Dr Majeed Rajput retired in 2009 and since then the hospital had been run on an ad hoc basis. About five years ago, the hospital was put under Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University and the post of administrator introduced. Dr Altaf Hussain was appointed as the administrator of the hospital who retired in January this year.

The permanent head of Polyclinic Dr Zahid Hussain retired in March 2016. Since then the hospital was being run through a look-after charge. The Supreme Court has been pushing the government for the appointment of permanent heads of the hospitals. Last month, Additional Attorney General Mohammad Waqar Rana informed the court that a summery had been sent to the Establishment Division for the appointment of the hospital heads.

Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood notified as executive director of Pims and Dr Shahid Hanif as head of Polyclinic

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar had expressed the hope that the matter would be addressed.

According to notifications issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, with the approval of the prime minister, Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood, joint executive director, has been appointed as the executive director of Pims. Joint Executive Director Dr Shahid Hanif has been appointed as the executive director of Polyclinic.

A doctor of Pims requesting not to be quoted said though the appointment of the permanent heads was a good step, according to Estacode they should be given targets of three years to deliver.

“I appeal to the CJP to establish a monitoring committee which should push them to deliver. The committee should also seek their performance reports after every three or six months. Pims and Polyclinic are among the biggest hospitals of the country but they could not perform because of ad hocism,” he said.

“If both the hospitals start performing, people will stop going to private hospitals. Only the CJP can make a turnaround in the situation of the hospitals,” he said.

When contacted, Dr Mahmood said he would try his best to ensure that the hospital would become one of the best in the country. He said a number of new projects would be launched.

Dr Hanif said funds had never been a problem for Polyclinic but the hospital suffered due to a lack of space.

“Unfortunately, all efforts for the extension of the hospital failed. My first priority will be to ensure that the hospital is expanded as we need to increase the number of beds, operation theatres and equipment,” he said.

“A building can be established if four government houses adjacent to Polyclinic are demolished and the land is handed over to the hospital. At the moment, my focus will be to increase the efficiency of the hospital which can be done easily as CADD has always been cooperative with the hospital management,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2018