LAHORE, April 25: Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed has announced abolition of posts of principal executive officers and deputy deans in all autonomous health institutions in the province.

Dr Tahir made this announcement during separate meetings with chairmen and non-official members of the 12 autonomous health institutions and representatives of the Pakistan Medical Association at the Civil Secretariat on Friday.

Among others Chief Minister’s Adviser on Health Dr Javed Asghar, health secretary Hasan Waseem Afzal, Prof Dr Yasmin Rashid, Prof Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Prof Dr Mahmood Ali Malik, Dr Azeemuddin Zahid, Dr Haq Nawaz Bharwana, Dr Fauzia Dost Muhammad, Dr Arshad Humayun, Dr Tanvir and Dr Shahid Rasheed attended the meetings.

On the demand of doctors, he said the government had decided to restore the post of principal in all medical colleges in the province. He said doctors of all medical colleges would be allowed private practice for a period of one year. He said the ban on private practice would be imposed after June 30, 2004, after developing necessary infrastructure in the hospitals.

The minister said the government had also decided to replace Boards of Governors (BoGs) in autonomous health institutions by Boards of Management (BoMs).

He said that four doctors —- college principal, the academic council chairman, an eminent retired professor and a doctor from the general cadre —- would be inducted into the BoMs. He said the boards would also have four other non-official members —- one each from management experts/retired civil and military officers, distinguished citizens, notable jurists and financial experts.

The minister said a special selection board would also be constituted to be headed by the college principal while its members would be professors of a department concerned, eminent retired professor and a general cadre doctor from civil side, representative of the health department and a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission.

The minister also told the meetings that the new Punjab Medical Health Institutions Bill, 2003, had been prepared in the light of the Mujaddid Mirza Commission report and the ordinance issued by the president. He said the bill would be presented in the Punjab cabinet and later in the Punjab Assembly for legislation.

Under the proposed bill, the minister said vacant posts would be required to be filled within six months, otherwise the SSBs would be empowered to make ad-hoc recruitment of doctors in teaching hospitals.

When contacted, Fatima Jinnah Medical College/Ganga Ram Hospital BoG chairman Pervaiz Hanif said the minister had asked all the 12 autonomous health institutions’ BoGs to convene their meetings and send him proposals on the amendments made to the new Punjab Medical Health Institutions Bill 2003.

He said the minister said that the existing BoGs’ non-official members would continue working in the BoMs.

Answering a question, Mr Hanif said health secretary Hasan Waseem Afzal had said that all medical colleges, including the King Edward Medical College and the Fatima Jinnah Medical College, remained affiliated with the University of Health Sciences. He, however, said that no official letter had still been received by any medical college in the province for its affiliation with the University of Health Sciences.

Meanwhile, PMA office-bearers lauded the decisions taken by the Punjab government to streamline the affairs of autonomous medical and health institutions in the province.