AMTI Board of Governors accused of favouritism

Siting members point out irregularities in ‘defunct’ chairman’s decisions

ABBOTTABAD:

The Board of Governors (BoG) of Abbottabad’s Ayub Medical Teaching Institution (AMTI) has been accused of favouring their blue-eyed individuals during consecutive board meetings under its ‘defunct’ chairman and causing huge losses to the national exchequer.

Despite strong opposition by three board members, the BOG chairman has allegedly shown complete disregard for the law.

BoG members Asad Khan Jadoon, Fawad Saleh, and Syed Jafar Shah have boycotted the meetings, terming them unlawful.

They have claimed that he has no legal authority to convene a meeting as the resignation of the BoG chairman has already been accepted by the caretaker K-P chief minister.

“The BoG chairman, ignoring the govt directives as well as members’ stance had called BoG meeting on April 03, 2024, and proceeded with the meeting,” the dissenting members said. The subsequent minutes published on April 8, 2024, revealed major policy and unlawful decisions recorded in the meeting minutes, they added.

“Notably, none of these decisions were made in favour of patient care or the betterment of the hospital, instead, they appeared to benefit specific employees exclusively.”

The three members said this sequence of events underscores serious concerns regarding governance and decision-making processes within Ayub Teaching Hospital.

They further said that the board in one of its meetings created a position for favouring acting Hospital Director Dr Ather Lodhi as Coordination Officer. The controversial move occurred despite the agenda item being deferred three times in previous BoG meetings.

Dr Ather Lodhi, previously serving as Chief Medical Officer in BS-20, was not only promoted to BS-21 but also had his position re-designated as Coordination Officer BS-21, a designation for which no existing rule or policy permits such an elevation.

The re-designation of positions within the hospital should adhere to proper procedures, including advertising vacancies and filling them through formalities, the members said. “Re-designation can only occur against vacant positions and must follow legal and transparent processes. This unilateral decision reflects a clear case of illegal favouritism towards the hospital director by the BoG, bypassing established protocols and rules governing promotions and re-designations within the hospital hierarchy.”
Moreover, the board improperly upgraded the position of Manager Radiology to BPS-18, as the actual sanctioned position of the officer is Patient Record Manager at BS-17, with no such designation as "Manager Radiology BS-17" existing. Subsequently, the Board endorsed the re-designation of the upgraded Manager Radiology position as Manager HR BPS–18 and merged it into the main HR department.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2024.