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LAHORE, Aug 10: The Postgraduate Medical Institute's academic council is of the view that the PGMI and the Services Institute of Medical Sciences should be made a single institution and allowed to run under one principal at the existing campus.
The PGMI's academic council meeting was held under the chairmanship of PGMI/Lahore General Hospital Principal Prof Dr Ali Ajwad Shah at institute's committee room on Tuesday. Prof Shah had called an emergency meeting to apprise the faculty of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi's directive.
The CM's directive stated that the premises of the PGMI on the 6-Birdwood Road might immediately be handed over to the SIMS. The CM also said the PGMI should be shifted to the Lahore General Hospital as decided earlier.
The CM had also directed that the auditorium situated at the Services Hospital should also be handed over to the SIMS. Prof Shah told the council that the interests of the PGMI should be looked after, as it was catering to the needs of basic sciences in the Punjab and other provinces. He said this only institute was also providing postgraduate facilities to basic as well as clinical sciences.
Even this year, Prof Shah said, the institute had admitted 99 students on deputation and 150 as private candidates and their classes were scheduled to begin from Sept 15. If the basic departments were shifted to the LGH, he said, the teaching of SIMS would also come to a standstill.
LGH medical superintendent Dr Ejaz Ahmad Sheikh, who was invited to attend the meeting as a guest, said the government should be requested to allocate sufficient funds for the construction of the PGMI's new building.
Till such time, he said, the PGMI should be allowed to continue on its existing campus to cater to the needs of both PGMI and SIMS. He said the government should consider shifting of the PGMI after making available a proper building to house the institute.
BoM MEETING: Meanwhile, the PGMI/LGH board of management's emergent meeting was held to discuss the latest situation, which arose after the CM's directive. The board meeting, chaired by Prof Dr Abdul Haye, noted that there was no space available on the LGH campus to shift the PGMI.
The board also noted that the academic activities of a large number of students would be affected even if the government pressured to shift a few PGMI departments immediately.
It is learnt that LGH medical superintendent Dr Sheikh, who is also secretary to the BoM, has sent a report to the Punjab health secretary about the proceedings of the BoM meeting held on Tuesday.
In the report, the MS stated that the board was of consistent opinion that order passed by the CM should be implemented in letter and spirit, but unfortunately no infrastructure was available within the LGH premises for shifting the institute.
The board recommended to move a request to the chief minister to allow status quo for training of PGMI and SIMS students till the construction of a new building for the PGMI.
The board said the PGMI was established in 1974 at a block in the King Edward Medical College to impart postgraduate teaching and training to doctors in both clinical and basic sciences subjects.
At present, the PGMI is running 60 different courses which include 12 diplomas and 48 degree courses. The institute has so far enrolled 7,000 students, while 2,500 doctors have completed their training.
The board said if the PGMI suffered at this stage it would not only be the suffering of the institution and might result in acute shortage of trained specialists.
The MS also stated that a site had been selected at LGH and requirements collected from heads of different PGMI departments' heads had been sent to the chief architect for preparation of a plan.
As soon as the chief architect would prepare the plan and the C&W would calculate estimated funds, he said, the plan would be submitted to the chief minister with a request for approval by the Planning and Development Department and allocation of funds during the current financial year.
The board then requested the CM that he should allow the dual arrangement of training for PGMI and SIMS students till the construction of new PGMI building at LGH.
PGMI/LGH PRINCIPAL: Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt that Prof Shah has also written a separate letter to the principal secretary to chief minister and reportedly sought 'guidance' that where the PGMI should be shifted.
Prof Shah has stated that the administration was already short of space at the LGH. The administration, he said, was compelled to arrange beds in corridors to adjust patients, while in some cases patients had to share beds.
"In this situation, how is it be possible for me to shift the whole campus of the PGMI with its museums of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, forensic medicine, pharmacology and pathology; laboratories of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, forensic medicine, pharmacology and pathology; dissection hall; and animal house?
"Where shall I shift all the equipment of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, forensic medicine, pharmacology and pathology, and accommodate the biggest library of the city," he asked.
He also sought advice from the CM's principal secretary that where the PGMI faculty would deliver lectures to over 300 students of the institute. He said all this massive infrastructure had been desired by the chief minister to be shifted at LGH when there was hardly any extra chair to be found at the hospital.
Prof Shah said the institute was in the process of admitting another batch of around 250 students. "Even if we turn out all the patients to accommodate the PGMI in LGH, the SIMS teaching will also suffer badly because PGMI faculty is imparting education at SIMS," he said.
Contesting CM's directive's statement that the shifting of the PGMI was decided earlier, Prof Shah said the original plan was to locate SIMS at the Services Hospital premises and Prof Dr Saeed Khokhar was appointed a project director. So, he said, it was SIMS and not the PGMI to be relocated.
Prof Shah has suggested that the PGMI and SIMS should be made a single institution with one head and two attached hospitals -- LGH and Services Hospital - and facilities and the staff of both institutions should be shared and complemented.
