The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has written to the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Vice Chancellor asking him to give his comments regarding the awarding of a PhD degree to the Pro-VC of the university. Prof Asad Aslam Khan holds the offices of both Pro-VC and VC.
A letter, PF 12-F-2010 (PG) (KEMU)/242188, signed by the PMDC Assistant Registrar Dr Sitara Hassan has been written to Prof Khan, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Prof Khan was doing his PhD from KEMU under the supervision of the KEMU Pathology Prof Dr Mulazim Hussain Bukhari. Prof Bukhari is subordinate to Prof Khan.
Official documents made available to The Express Tribune show that the panels of examiners for the evaluation and defense Prof Khan’s thesis, ‘Gene Based Study of Prognostic Evaluation of Retinoblastoma of Eye,’ were approved in a meeting of the Advanced Studies and Research Board under his own chairmanship.
The minutes of the meeting reveal that when Agenda Item No 5 (approval of examiners for Professor Asad Aslam Khan) was tabled, Prof Khan left the room.
PMDC has taken notice of the situation and asked Prof Khan to submit a detailed reply. Senior professors and KEMU faculty members told The Tribune that the PMDC does not allow KEMU to conduct PhDs in Clinical Sciences.
“How can a professor of pathology supervise a PhD. It is strange when the VC is a student at his own university and can award himself a PhD degree. This is very dubious. PMDC has done the right thing by taking this issue up,” a KEMU professor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Tribune.
Professor Bukhari said he was qualified to supervise a PhD thesis in any clinical science subject. “Professor Khan is doing a PhD in clinical sciences and his supervisor needs to be a person who knows research and can guide him,” he said.
“There is a clash between PMDC and Higher Education Commission (HEC) over PhD programmes. PMDC doesn’t allow KEMU to carry PhD programmess in clinical science while the HEC has allowed us. Even if PMDC doesn’t recognize Prof Khan’s PhD it will make no difference as he already holds a post-graduation degree in surgery and will continue to practice on the basis of that degree. His new degree is a research degree and is approved by the HEC,” Prof Bukhari said.
“I have been told by many that I need to be more careful as my student is the VC. We are making every thing about this PhD transparent and fair,” he added.
Prof Bukhari added, “We don’t have qualified people so as an adjunct faculty member of the HEC I am allowed to supervise any PhD in clinical sciences for five years.”
He stressed that the topic of Prof Khan’s PhD was related to pathology.
KEMU VC Prof Khan said, “I will write my response to the PMDC letter within a few days. We were busy with Muharram duties so I couldn’t respond earlier.”
“I enrolled to do my PhD through Punjab University because at the time of my enrollment KEMU wasn’t a university. I started my PhD course during the tenure of the former KEMU VC and Registrar. At that time I was not the VC,” he added. He added that his supervisor just guided him on his research and had nothing to do with awarding him the degree. “The thesis goes abroad for evaluation. My supervisor is not my examiner.”
Professor Khan said when his synopsis was being approved he had walked out of the meeting so that the approval could be judged in a fair and transparent manner.
“We are cultivating the culture of research at KEMU. It this is a good thing if a sitting VC is doing a PhD. This PhD will have no affect on my promotion,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012.
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Dr Mulaim Husain Bukhari brings International prestige to the KEMU, excelled purely on his merit and is known for his honesty. It is sad to see that his name getting dragged in this sordid saga. Professor Aslam is not the first and won't be last to use others for research work. I am sure the furor is not just on the academic integretity. Hopefully some one will cover all the angles of this story.
I am a graduate of KEMU. Let me begin by saying that the standard of educations is pretty poor in KEMU. The situation is getting worse on daily basis. The examination system is out-dated. And The teachers are resistant to any kind of positive change in the system. They need some fresh blood. And You have no idea how these professors abuse their powers. I know for sure that His so-called research would have been conducted by the MBBS students and junior doctors of the Mayo Hospital.
P.S Dr. Moulazim is one of the good guys btw. But nobody can bear the pressure from KEMU Admin.
I dont see any fault by the VC doing the PhD .. here in Australia there is a huge incentives program for the faculty to further improve their qualifications and almost all of the junior faculty is studying for their masters and PhD at the same university. It has never been questioned because everyone knows that it is a fair system. The supervisors work hard with their colleagues who they are supervising - there are instances in which a senior person is supervised by a junior person in the same faculty. The examinations are taken by an independent external examination board and the thesis defence is often in front of examiners from other universities.
Having said that, I know how corrupt is the system in Pakistan and if someone has to be awarded a degree then it doesnt matter if it is "transparent" or not. I know sons and daughters of professors and senior doctors who passed all their exams even though they didnt deserve to. Neputism is every where
Sounds very irregular. The PhD must be undertaken at an institution which is not under the influence of a candidate. Preferably an institution from which the candidate has no prior association.
How low can we go in integrity?
University is an autonomous body, does not necessary bound to follow PMDC guidelines, they can amend it according to their requirements with the approval of ASRB and Senate. HEC can ask and evaluate the process award of PhD degree, not PMDC. The "permission" to award PhD has to be given by HEC, not PMDC necessarily. PhD is clinical is rare but not new notion. Vice Chancellor is an administrative post, and he can join University's academic program with the permission of statutory body. It would be prudent and appreciable for PMDC to "pehle apna Qibla durust karlen phir dosron se sawal karen"