LUMHS faculty, staff threaten to boycott work

Faculty and staff warned of boycott if incumbent registrar was not removed

HYDERABAD: Upping the ante of their protest, the faculty and staff of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro, warned of boycotting work if the incumbent registrar was not removed. At a joint press conference in Hyderabad on Monday, the associations of teachers, officers and staff threatened to stay away from classes, outdoor patient department (OPD) and operation theatres in both the LUMHS campuses in Hyderabad and Jamshoro.

Teachers Association President Prof Dr Suhail Almani said that they will observe a token hunger strike which will be followed by a boycott if the registrar, Dr Roshan Bhatti, was not removed. The issue has been simmering for over a year. While the teaching faculty has been demanding removal of Dr Bhatti, accused by three associations of alleged administrative harassment, the staff has been holding a continuous protest for months.

"The registrar behaves like a dictator and treats the faculty, doctors and staff as his servants," said Dr Almani of the officers association. Anwar Majeed's Omni group was also mentioned in the press conference as the registrar is said to have been appointed on the group's recommendation.



"We won't call Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Bikha Ram Devrajani a dummy. Rather, he is a meek person who can't act against the registrar, who is backed by powerful people," said Dr Almani.

The teachers and officials said that the registrar was a retired government employee who earlier headed a midwifery project. They claimed that Dr Bhatti's name had also surfaced in an inquiry by Sindh chief minister's monitoring and inspection committee that looked into the appointments of the lady health workers.

"He was a general cadre employee who lacks the capability of serving in a higher education institution," argued Usman Butt - another member of the officers association. The office bearers of the associations went on the blame Dr Bhatti of undermining the statuary bodies like the syndicate and senate of LUMHS.

According to them, the senate's meeting has not been called for two years, syndicate's for 15 months and academic council's for a year. "The decisions for the campus are taken by these three bodies. The role of the registrar is to implement these decisions. But in order to impose his own decisions Dr Bhatti hasn't been calling the meetings," they alleged.

Department of Psychiatry Chairperson Prof Dr Moin Ahmed Ansari and Prof Dr Ghazanfar Hussain Taqvi, head of department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, tendered their resignations last month due to the registrar. The associations warned that more teachers might follow them if corrective measures were not taken.

Staff Welfare Association's Sikandar Ali Junejo, Prof Sajida Yousfani, Dr Farah Naz and other faculty members were also present.