NAWABSHAH, June 30: The Sindh Health Department is preparing to transfer in July this year a number of faculty members of Nawabshah Medical College to Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College, Sukkur, in order to help the college get recognition from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, it was learnt on Saturday.

Sources in the department said that a PMDC team would visit the college sometime in July to decide whether it should recognise it after observing its faculty position.

The Ghulam Mohammad Mahar Medical College (GMMMC) has been facing acute shortage of teaching staff since it was established about three years ago without proper planning.

The number of teachers in the college was much lower according to the PMDC standards hence the department’s decision to transfer some professors, associate and assistant professors from Nawabshah and Chandka Medical Colleges (CMC) to the college, the sources said and added that a summary in this connection had already been sent to the chief minister for approval.

The Nawabshah Medical College (NMC), itself, had been facing shortage of teaching staff for years and had been requesting the competent authorities to fill the vacant posts, the sources said.

The department had also ignored the NMC teachers regarding promotions forcing it to make a large number of registrars and demonstrators to work as assistant professor to run the wards.

The NMC faculty members had been urging the department to promote them to higher grades and issue them NoCs for joining medical universities, the sources said.

The NMC’s academic council had often demanded affiliation of their college with Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences and a summary in this connection had been sent to the chief minister but so far no decision had been taken on it.

There were 19 sanctioned posts of professors, 20 of associate professors, 44 posts of assistant professors and 15 of senior registrar but the college was making do with only 10, 6, 34 and 4, respectively. It also lacked more than 100 medical officers, the sources said.

NMC Principal Prof Ali Akbar Ghumro confirmed the transfers and said that he had been informed by the secretary of health that the transfers would be entirely on temporary basis. They would be transferred back to their respective colleges after the visit of PMDC team and later fresh appointments would be made through commission, he said.

A senior official in the health department said while requesting anonymity that the SNE for appointments in GMMMC was already approved and there was no need to transfer teaching staff from NMC or CMC as the problem could be solved by making appointments on contract basis for the time being.

The secretary of health could appoint teaching faculty on contract basis to solve the issue of recognition and later make fresh appointments through commission, he added.

The secretary general of the Nawabshah chapter of Pakistan Medical Association, Dr Ghulam Hyder Memon, expressed the fear that the transfers would force NMC to close down. The transfers from an already understaffed college would not only affect the students but patients as well, he said.