LAHORE: The Health Department has transferred the only PhD faculty member of the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Lahore to Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI).
The decision will affect 27 PhD students, 10 MPhil students and 12 FCPS students who were working on their theses under his supervision.
The Heath Department, instead of replacing Dr Mulazim Hussain Bukhari with another PhD holder, has appointed Dr Eyyaz Kaleel. Dr Khaleel, one of Dr Bukhari’s students, is not eligible to head the PhD programme at KEMU. The KEMU VC is also a student of Dr Bukhari.
According to some students an HEC team will visit KEMU on January 26 to resolve the issue.
Dr Mulazim Hussain Bukhari, who is the PhD programme director (Pathology) and KEMU acting vice chancellor, Professor Dr Asad Aslam, have written a letter to the Health Department in this regard but have received no response.
According to Health Department record available with The Express Tribune, the provisional selection board that met on October 25, 2010 regularised Dr Bukhari’s posting as an associate professor. He had been working as an associate professor since 2009. The board also promoted Dr Eyyaz Khaleel as associate professor.
On January 7, the department issued a notification transferring Dr Bukhari to the PGMI and posting Dr Muhammad Eyyaz Khaleel in his place.
When contacted, Dr Bukhari told The Express Tribune that he had started the PhD programme at KEMU on the advice of the HEC and the chief minister in 2009. “The chief minister asked me to produce 25 PhDs in KEMU in five years,” Dr Bukhari said. According to Dr Bukhari he is the only PhD supervisor who is part of the regular faculty. The other two have been appointed from the HEC. “The KEMU cannot continue the PhD programme because three PhD faculty members are required to run the programme in any teaching institution,” Dr Bukhari said. He added that he had also been in charge of the FCPS programme in pathology at KEMU in which 12 students were enrolled. “If I leave, this programme will also be shut down,” Dr Bukhari stated.
KEMU data record shows that MPhil students admitted to the programme in 2008 have yet to submit their theses. If Dr Bukhari leaves, they cannot complete their degree requirement.
KEMU’s VC, Prof Dr Asad Aslam, said that he would meet with the health secretary and try to persuade him to withdraw the order. “Dr Bukhari cannot leave. If he does it will be a huge loss for the KEMU and its students,” the VC said. Dr Aslam will request the secretary to transfer Dr Khaleel to the PGMI instead since PGMI does not have a PhD programme.
Health Secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad could not be reached for his comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2011.
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