SZABMU still on the hunt for vice chancellor

University’s registration under threat of being cancelled after PIMS separation

ISLAMABAD: The capital’s sole public medical university has been operating without a vice chancellor for the past four months.

Over a month has passed since the committee, which was tasked with appointing a new head was created, but it has yet to make any progress on the matter.

At the moment, the administrative affairs at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) have all but come to a standstill since there is no one to approve measures.

The rudderless nature of the varsity has also started taking a toll on students who are quite disturbed by the absence of a VC.

The post fell vacant after the varsity’s former VC Professor Dr Javed Akram retired on January 7 after completing his tenure.

Ever since the university has been operating without a permanent head.

To replace Dr Akram, the government had appointed Dr Abid Farooqi as the acting vice chancellor. But Dr Farooqi resigned in March after falling afoul of Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD)

According to sources, the CADD — which oversees government-run health and educational facilities in the capital, had formed a search committee on April 4 under the supervision of Federal Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarrar and comprising three members including Federal Education Minister Baleeghur Rehman, CADD Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary and University of Health Sciences Lahore VC Dr Sania Nishtar to shortlist candidates for the post.

However, there is no word so far on whether this committee has made any progress.

Endangered integrity

As the hunt for a new VC for SZABMU continues, the separation of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences as an attached hospital of the university has endangered the university’s integrity and posed questions to its legal status.



Per by-laws of the apex regulator of medical educational institutions, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, it is mandatory for a medical university to be affiliated with a hospital or medical institutions.

The PMDC notice states that the registration of any university, which is not affiliated with any hospital or medical institution, will be cancelled.



With SZABMU not affiliated with any hospital at the moment, students of the varsity are extremely distressed over the situation.

Earlier in February, President Mamnoon Hussain had signed a bill separating Pims from SZABMU. The move came after staff at the tertiary care hospital had gone on a three-week-long strike to force the government into granting their wish.

The staff had been protesting for nearly six years against the merger of the hospital with the varsity, claiming that it had created administrative difficulties for them in filling several empty posts in the hospital.



They had held multiple boycotts of services at the hospital to force the government into acquiescing to their demands.

Moreover, they stated that since a university is an autonomous body with its own service structure, their promotions and other benefits — owed as civil servants — were withdrawn.

The hospital’s employees were also ruled out of plots in the Federal Government Housing Foundation because they were no longer considered government servants due to which they held a number of protests and token strikes to press for their demands.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2018.