Medical universities: Six names sent to chief minister for selection

‘Appointment of vice chancellors could take another two or three weeks’.

LAHORE:

Six names have been forwarded to the chief minister for the posts of vice chancellors of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) and King Edward Medical University (KEMU).

A search committee, which interviewed 40 candidates for the two posts, has come up with the following list, in order, of the best candidates: Professor Javed Akram, Professor Faisal Masud, Professor Major General (retired) Muhammad Aslam, Professor Abdul Majeed Chauhdry, Professor Jawad Sajid and Professor Sarwat Hussain.

The chief minister is to select one of the first three candidates to head the UHS, and one of the next three to head the KEMU, according to the summary.

“The summary has been forwarded to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. Now it’s his prerogative to appoint any of them as vice chancellors,” said a senior Health Department official.

“Once the chief minister approves two names, two separate summaries will be sent to the governor for assent, following which notifications of the appointments will be issued. This process may take two to three weeks,” he said.

A senior Health Department official said that some 88 public and private medical colleges were affiliated with the UHS, so it deserved to have the best candidate as vice chancellor. It was also one of the richest universities in the country, with an endowment fund of Rs1.5 billion.

But one of the candidates in the top three indicated that he would prefer to be vice chancellor of the KEMU. “None of those on the panel for KEMU vice chancellor is a Kemcolian [KEMU alumnus]. KEMU is prestigious institution and a person who knows this institute should be appointed as vice chancellor there. The selected candidates should have a choice as to where they wish to serve,” he said, on the condition of anonymity.



Most of the selected candidates have experience at administrative posts. Prof Akram is a former principal of Allama Iqbal Medical College and has served as professor of medicine at KEMU.

Prof Masud is currently principal of the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) and has also served at KEMU.

Prof Aslam, who is from DG Khan, is the only candidate from south Punjab and the only candidate working in Pakistan who is not based in Lahore. He holds a PhD in physiology from the University of London. He has served as principal of the Army Medical College.

Prof Chauhdry has served as principal of Fatima Jinnah Medical College. He claims to be the only doctor in Punjab with a master’s degree in medical education from Holland.

Prof Sajid has served as head of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

Prof Hussain is a radiologist based in the USA.

The search committee which recommended the candidates consisted of former federal minister Sartaj Aziz, Lahore University of Management Sciences Pro Chancellor Syed Babar Ali, former Allama Iqbal Medical College principal Professor SAR Gardezi, former chief secretary Pervez Masood, and Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2013.