ISLAMABAD: A recent complaint filed with Prime Minister’s Complaint Portal [Pakistan Citizen Portal] regarding short listing of candidates for the slot of vice chancellor (VC) Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) has triggered a debate over the degrees required for the post.

Some health experts believed that as universities offered doctor of medicine (MD) and master of surgery (MS), MPhil and PhD programmes involving lots of research work, only those degree holders could become VC. However, others were of the view that doctors having degrees of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) could also become a vice chancellor.

According to documents available with Dawn, 32 candidates applied for the post which fell vacant after the retirement of Dr Javed Akram in Jan 2018.

A search committee chaired by Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari short listed six candidates.

Some health experts believe candidates holding doctor of medicine, master of surgery, MPhil and PhD degrees could become VC

On May 8, 2019, six candidates were called for an interview. Among them were Prof Mulazim Hussain Bukhari, Prof retired Maj Gen Abdul Khaliq Naveed, Prof Mohammad Umar, Prof Tanwir Khaliq, Prof Hassan Abbas Zaheer and Prof Shamsa Rizwan. Three of the candidates were from clinical sciences and the others belonged to medical sciences.

Initially, rumours spread that Prof Bukhari, Prof Naveed and Dr Umar had been selected as final three candidates and their names sent to the Prime Minister Office for the nomination of one of them as the VC.

However, as per the documents, the names of Prof Tanwir Khaliq, Prof Mohammad Umar and Prof Hassan Abbas Zaheer were sent to the cabinet to nominate one of them for the post at a meeting held on May 21. However, the matter was deferred.

When contacted, Prof Bukhari said he had learnt from sources that his name was on top of the list but in the summary sent to the cabinet his name was dropped.

“I was further surprised that the name of Prof Tanwir Khaliq, who has Fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS), was included in the list of final three candidates. As the university job is totally related to research and FCPS does not involve any research I filed a complaint with the PM’s portal and have got confirmation that the authorities have started an investigation,” he said.

Prof Naveed, who is currently principal of the CMH Lahore Medical College, told Dawn that he had got 98pc marks on the basis of qualification and experience but was not included among the final three candidates.

“Though the Supreme Court had ordered in 2015 that a maximum of 15pc marks can be allocated for interview, in this case interview was allocated 50pc marks. This was not fair. Moreover, minimum 15 research papers are required for the post of VC but Prof Tanwir Khaliq does not meet the criterion and his research is also very poor,” he alleged.

However, Prof Tanwir Khaliq said though it was correct that he had a FCPS degree, he had written a thesis on goiter which was published in two HEC recognised journals.

“As medical universities don’t produce scientists, I believe that clinical experience is more required than research. I have done masters in medical education and studied how a doctor should be trained and how they should treat a patient. My degree and job is relevant for it. Moreover, currently, FCPS and FRCS graduates are VCs of King Edward Medical University, Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Nishtar Medical College etc. I also have five years’ experience of working in a university.”

He said experience in patient-care was more important and necessary to become a VC. However, pathologists don’t get involved in patient-care so they should not be considered for such a post, he said.

When contacted, former SZABMU VC Dr Javed Akram, who is currently the VC of the University of Health Sciences (UHS), agreed that there was less element of research work in FCPS and more research work was involved in a PhD degree.

“Though both FCPS and PhDs meet the minimum criteria for the post of VCs I believe that experience and research work should also be considered. I have done MRCP (Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom) and some other degrees but have 300 research applications due to which PhD candidates could not match me during the process of appointment for the VC UHS,” he said.

In reply to a question regarding Prof Tanwir Khaliq, Dr Akram said he (Prof Tanwir) was groomed as VC at SZABMU as he served on important posts there.

“I have also seen the debate on social media with different candidates blaming each other, which is not a good sign,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2019