HYDERABAD: The Health Management Board of Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) has unanimously disagreed with the Sindh health department’s proposal to separate the LUH Jamshoro and Hyderabad branches because it would create serious administrative, clinical and operational complications.

It resolved that it was not feasible to bifurcate the hospital into two independent entities without adversely affecting care of patients, teaching standards and overall healthcare delivery. Justification for disagreeing with the proposal would be sent to the health department, it added. The board decided to expand the emergency department with donors’ help.

Health management boards were formed in line with Sindh government’s 2020 legislation i.e., The Sindh Teaching Hospitals (Establishment of Health Management Board) Act 2020 for all tertiary-care hospitals province wide.

The above decision was taken at the board’s meeting held on April 17, 2026 under the chairmanship of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Jamshoro Vice Chancellor Prof Ikram Din Ujjan.

The meeting, according to its minutes, discussed the item of LUH’s separation proposal and noted that it would create serious administrative, clinical and operational complications as LUH functions as a unified teaching hospital of the LUMHS.

The board’s secretary and director of the LUH administration & procurement, Dr Sajjan Halepoto, confirmed to Dawn that the board had unanimously disagreed with the LUH’s separation proposal on some grounds.

Discussing the proposal presented by the LUH medical superintendent (MS) for separation of the hospital branches, the board noted that the LUH was supposed to teach and train undergraduate and postgraduate medical students as well as researchers, along with provision of patient care. Routine patients require prolonged management while critical ones often need immediate intervention, including urgent surgeries and intensive care.

Both branches of the hospital were organised into different units based on bed distribution and their respective wards/units were also duly recognised by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC), Higher Education Commission (HEC), College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC). Several facilities were exclusively available in the LUH City, making them critical for emergency and tertiary care services, thus it was not feasible to make the LUH as separate entities without affecting patient care, teaching standards and overall healthcare delivery.

The board then unanimously disagreed with the proposal. It decided to send justification to the health department with relevant facts and institutional implications on it. It expressed inability to concur with the proposal, considering its administrative impracticability which was detrimental to integrated patient care and teaching functions.

The much awaited appointment of the LUH’s director finance, in line with Act 2020, was debated upon, too. The matter was raised by the MS and the board called for expediting the process of hiring of the LUH’s director finance through the director of the administration & procurement under Act 2020.

Raising his contention, MS Kazmi was of the view that this post should be cancelled and re-advertised as the authority to such issue rested with him and not with the director of the LUH administration & procurement because Act 2020 made the MS executive head of the hospital management. Another board member, Imdad Unnar, a lawyer, contested the MS’s view, saying that the MS was not legally authorised to issue advertisements for the posts.

Mr Unnar explained that job description of the director administration included ‘human resources management’ and day-to-day affairs of the hospital in the light of clause 9(2)(b) of Act. He said the authority for issuing such ads, including for the post of director finance, and matters relating to human resources vested with the administration director as per law.

The board decided to expedite the hiring process while the MS recorded his dissent. It resolved that job description of the director of the administration & procurement as prescribed in Act 2020 shall be adhered to and implemented in letter and spirit, and all administrative, procurement and human resource related functions shall be performed accordingly to ensure proper governance in the institution.

This post, as a matter of fact, was advertised twice but still remained vacant for want of candidate’s selection. The LUH administration & procurement director was never taken on board, according to Halepoto, in the hospital’s administrative and procurement matters.

Earlier, powers of the director finance were exercised by an official while holding a person specific BS-20 post of “director administration, accounts & development”. He was then removed from it and charge for the post was handed over to the LUMHS VC under the orders of the Sukkur bench of the Sindh High Court in March 2023. The post was finally abolished under an apex court’s order.

The board resolved to forward the MS’s request for grant of Rs300m budget for repair of machinery and equipment to the finance department as Rs82.035m for repair were insufficient. It also resolved to approach the secretary health for the appointment of staff from BS-1 to BS-4 and BS-5 to BS-15.

The board decided to expand ‘emergency department’ by utilising available space on the rear side of the department to enhance facilities for patients and improve service delivery immediately in view of availability of donors.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2026