LAHORE: Some three-month-long clash between a professor and a registrar of the cardiology department of the Mayo Hospital, Lahore, has led to the repatriation of both of them to the Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department.

Professor of cardiology Dr Aamir Bandesha was sent to the disposal of the health department on the recommendations of the anti-harassment committee and registrar Dr Sharjeel Akram in the light of findings of an inquiry report compiled by the disciplinary committee of the institute.

Dr Aamir was posted as professor of cardiology at KEMU/Mayo Hospital in December 2024 while Dr Sharjeel was holding another key position - chairman of Mayo Hospital chapter of the Young Doctors Association Punjab.

Both these doctors had first developed differences some months back when Prof Aamir Bandesha enforced a ‘strict’ policy for the PGRs and other doctors of his cardiac department, imposing a complete ban on any kind of political activities under the banner of the YDA Punjab.

An official privy to the entire situation said Dr Bandesha being head of the cardiology department had conveyed that the strikes or protests at the highly sensitive unit would put patients at grave risk.

Cardiologist, registrar off and on clashed, compromising heart patients’ healthcare

He said Dr Aamir had also issued specific warnings, particularly, regarding absence of his department’s young medics and others from duties in the wake of the protests.

Some three months back, the official said, Dr Aamir filed a first complaint against Dr Sharjeel, the registrar of his unit, accusing him of being absent from his duty and violating the discipline.

The differences between them widened to the extent that they scuffled in the institute and the issue reached social media, bringing a bad name to the historic King Edward Medical University.

Even a hot debate in the Pakistani medical community in USA and other countries ensued, creating embarrassment for the KEMU as a institute and among its senior teaching faculty when some female post-graduate doctors filed a complaint against Prof Dr Aamir, accusing him of harassing them at workplace (cardiology department).

There were reports that the tension was escalating everyday in the teaching hospital as both sides engaged multiple times in a day in a war of words, besides humiliating each other by using abusive language and hurling threats. Resultantly, the quality healthcare to heart patients had become a challenging job.

To get rid of both of them for the sake of the reputation of the institute, the official said, the KEMU vice chancellor referred the matter to the two committees for investigating the complaints.

Headed by Prof Dr Nazish Imran, the anti-harassment committee was given a task to launch an inquiry into the allegations of harassment leveled by the lady PGRs against Prof Dr Aamir Bandesha.

Similarly, the disciplinary committee that handles cases of student misconduct and violations of university rules investigated the allegations of attacking the office of Bandesha by Sharjeel and some of his fellows and using abusive language.

The said committee was headed by Pro-Vice Chancellor of the KEMU Prof Dr Mohammad Moin.

“The KEMU and the attached Mayo Hospital have been facing a great deal of unrest due to the differences between professor of cardiology and his registrar”, KEMU VC Prof Ayaz Mahmood told Dawn.

He said he had called both of them at his office, and played a role to defuse tension, giving them an opportunity to settle their issues amicably.

The matter was resolved for the time being but they again started confrontation.

Following the complaints they filed against each other, he said, the respective committees submitted detailed reports and held both of them guilty.

The reports were sent to the Punjab health secretary and they were sent to the disposal of the health department, the KEMU VC said.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2025