Zubair Qureshi
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has got new Executive Director (ED) Dr Anser Maxood, a grade-20 doctor from dental medicine as incumbent ED Dr Raja Amjad Mehmood has gone on one-month leave.
Dr Anser took charge of his office on August 2, Friday.
Sources close to PM’s Special Assistant on Health Dr Zafar Mirza told Pakistan Observer here Saturday that Dr Raja Amjad was removed from PIMS top slot for not meeting the ‘targets’ National Health Service (NHS) Ministry had given him to accomplish one main being implementation of the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act (MTI Act 2015) in the hospital.
According to them, Dr Raja Amjad made it clear to the Health Services Ministry it was beyond his powers and control to convince the PIMS medical and paramedical staff on MTI Act. PIMS employees were aggressively opposed to any such change of status, he further conveyed to the Special Assistant on Health.
This contributed to his exit and the NHS Ministry first made him administrator of Human Organs Transplant Authority (HOTA) but later, he was sent on ex-Pakistan leave.
The officials said that the Ministry of NHS was rapidly working to transform the government-run hospitals into MTI system, the health system which was implemented in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in public sector hospitals by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
They further said friction continued between ED PIMS Dr Raja Amjad Mahmood and Ministry of NHS for the implementation of new system as ED was in not in favour of changing the status of government hospital and civil servant status of the employees.
New hiring process in PIMS has already been stopped by the government despite the fact it advertised over 400 vacancies from grad-1 to grade-16 but the NHS Ministry first wants MTI status for PIMS before any new induction.
In April this year, the NHS ministry had sent a letter to the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) to stop the recruitment process of 80 faculty members varying from Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 17 to 20 immediately.
The commission had started conducting interviews of candidates for vacant posts of four BPS-20 professors, seven BPS-19 associate professors, 29 BPS-18 assistant professors, 24 BPS-18 senior registrars, a senior librarian of BPS-18 and 15 principal technicians of BPS-17.
Sources said that the recruitment was halted because PIMS was being given under the Board of Governors (BoG) as proposed in Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act.
Meanwhile, office-bearers of the All Employees PIMS Restoration Movement (AEPRM) expressing concerns over the government’s proposed plan to introduce MTI status has vowed to resist it.
Announcing the decision at an emergency meeting held at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) the office-bearers said they would use all options to resist MTI status for PIMS.
Dr Raja Amjad Mehmood when contacted for confirmation whether he was removed for not meeting the given targets, said he had simply gone on one-month leave and since the post could not be left vacant, Dr Ansar was appointed in his place in routine process.
