Civil Hospital MS transferred
PHOTO: AFP
Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (DRPCHK) medical superintendent (MS) Dr Khadim Hussain Qureshi has been transferred and posted as the chief MS of Sindh Government Lyari General Hospital just around six months before his retirement.
The health department has issued his transfer orders without giving any reason.
Dr Qureshi, who was to retire from the post of DRPCHK MS in February, 2021, has been replaced by DRPCHK chief oncologist Dr Noor Muhammad Soomro.
Sources in DRPCHK, who asked not to be named, linked his transfer to an advertisement for 452 vacancies at the tertiary care hospital, published just two days before Dr Qureshi's transfer orders were issued on Tuesday. They claimed that the advertisement sought application for BPS-1 to BPS-15 postings and there was a tussle on the appointments between Dr Qureshi and the health department.
"The health minister's team wants to appoint and install people selected by them at the hospital, which is direct interference into the hospital's administrative affairs," said a senior doctor at DRPCHK, explaining the connection between Dr Qureshi's transfer and the advertisement for vacancies at the hospital.
Another senior doctor commented, "It is strange for all of us and all of us are questioning the decision to transfer him without any reason."
According to a health department official, Dr Qureshi is the only head of a hospital in the province who holds a degree in hospital management and has over 30 years of experience in hospital administration.
He was posted as DRPCHK MS in February last year and his transfer orders were issued earlier, a few months ago, too, but the transfer was later cancelled on intervention by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
At the moment, DRPCHK is one of the largest tertiary care hospitals in Karachi, serving thousands of patients daily, and official records show that besides all of Sindh, it receives patients from Punjab and Balochistan. It has also been providing treatment for Covid-19 patients, and according to senior doctors at the hospital, Dr Qureshi had worked hard to set up a separate block for the patients affected by the coronavirus.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2020.