LAHORE: Amid ‘certain controversies,’ the health department finally completed on Thursday the interview process for the selection of vice chancellors of three top-ranked medical universities of the provincial capital.
It took the department some six months or so to conduct the interviews for the University of Health Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Medical University and the King Edward Medical University.
On Thursday, the health department not only finalised interview process for the top slot of the KEMU but also shortlisted a panel of three candidates to recommend them to the chief minister for final approval.
They included Prof Dr Sultan Ayub Meo (serving abroad), former pro vice chancellor of KEMU, Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan and chairman of Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, Prof Dr Farid Ahmad Khan.
Process continued for six months due to ‘multiple issues’
The [six-month] delay occurred owing to multiple issues, including litigation by some candidates against the merit policy, differences of some contestants with the search committee members and the allegations of pick and choice, an official told Dawn.
He said an interesting situation had occurred when some weeks back two candidates contesting for the KEMU had expressed no confidence in the head of the interviewing board formed for the selection of the VC for the same varsity.
On an occasion, the health department was shocked when some of the members of search panels of two universities also refused to be part of the interviewing process, he said.
Again, the official said, it faced ‘embarrassment’ when some candidates refused to appear for interview citing favouritism as a prime reason.
The interviews for the UHS had been finalised a couple of weeks back while for the FJMU the process was done on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the search panel interviewed candidates for the KEMU top position at the health secretariat.
Headed by senior orthopaedic surgeon Prof Amir Aziz, the panel comprised former principal of the Rahim Yar Khan Shaikh Zayed Medical College Prof Dr Eice Mohammad and health secretary Najam Shah.
The official said in Thursday’s interview process two old ‘rivals’ - head of the panel Prof Amir Aziz and a candidate Prof Asad Aslam - appeared face-to-face.
In the past, both had nurtured strong differences over the university status [of KEMU]. However, no unpleasant incident took place when they met.
The official said the ‘surprise’ entry of Prof Farid Ahmad Khan in the panel of three shortlisted candidates shocked some contenders, who were being declared as favourite for the KEMU VC slot.
He said one of the major factors for Farid Ahmad’s entry was the ‘influence’ of a leading private sector medical institute of Lahore.
For the FJMU, he said, the selection board recommended professor of surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Dr Aamir Zaman Khan, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan senior vice president Prof Dr Khalid Masood Gondal and KEMU pro VC Prof Dr Qazi Saeed.
Among all the candidates contesting for the three medical universities of the provincial capital, only Prof Gondal and Prof Asad Aslam have the distinction of grade 21, he said.
Interestingly, Mr Qazi Saeed was also among the five senior medics shortlisted for the UHS top slot.
The other candidates shortlisted for the varsity included UHS pro vice chancellor Prof Dr Junaid Sarfraz, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) chief executive Prof Dr Javed Akram, acting vice chancellor of FJMU Prof Dr Fakhar Imam and former principal of Allama Iqbal Medical College Prof Dr Mahmood Shaukat.
The official said the summary for the UHS was sent to the chief minister for final approval “while the recommendations for the FJMU and the KEMU are expected to be forwarded today (Friday).”
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2017
