LAHORE: Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Lahore head Prof Dr Anjum Jalal has refused to serve further as executive director (ED) of the institute on an ‘additional charge’ basis, after expressing his strong reservations over the ‘mode of governance’, internal politics and financial and administrative issues he has been facing since he assumed the charge last year.

In a letter addressed to the Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department (SH&MED), Professor of Cardiac Surgery Dr Anjum Jalal requested that he be relieved of the additional charge of the post of executive director, refusing another three-month extension, as the period expired on Sept 15.

The PIC head’s refusal to hold additional charge has deepened the crisis in the only public sector mega cardiac facility in the provincial capital, which has already been facing different financial and administrative issues, adding to the patients’ problems.

An official privy to the development says it is the third such request submitted by Prof Anjum Jalal to the health department, as the higher authorities have been showing a ‘non-serious’ attitude with regard to resolving the administrative crisis being faced by the 550-bed public cardiac facility.

Earlier, he says, Prof Jalal had in different departmental meetings requested the higher health authorities to relieve him of the additional charge of the PIC top slot, but to no avail.

“In continuation of my previous letter, it is submitted that my [third] tenure of additional charge as executive director of the PIC Lahore ended on Sept 15 and I do not wish to continue with this position,” reads Prof Jalal’s letter.

He further wrote that the interviews for the appointment of new executive director of the PIC have been conducted, suggesting to the government to appoint a regular head of the institute.

The official says a high-powered search committee, comprisingboth health ministers, health secretary, serving vice chancellors of medical universities and some retired principals, had interviewed two senior doctors -- PIC Professor of Cardiology Dr Moazzam Naqvi and Prof Bilal Mohiuddin -- in August, 2024, for the position.

However, the process of appointment of a regular PIC head was delayed as both provincial health ministers and the previous secretary wanted Prof Jalal to continue to serve as PIC executive director on ad hoc basis.

The official says that Prof Jalal is being retained on the post on additional charge basis for the last one year or so despite the fact that he is at the top of the list of senior cardiac surgeons in Punjab.

Previously, he says, Prof Jalal was serving as regular head of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC). However, he was transferred from the RIC without being taken on board and was assigned additional charge of the PIC Lahore.

During his posting at PIC Lahore, he was ‘forced’ to handle the protocol patients only, instead of being given a free hand to run the institute smoothly by taking measures to resolve the financial and administrative issues it was facing, the official says.

In many cases, he says, the Board of Management (BoM) chairman and other strong lobbies in the PIC have been creating hurdles for Prof Jalal in running the institute’s affairs in a smooth way.

As a result, the hospital faces a looming threat of default as the expenses on procurement of medicines have increased to Rs4.2 billion against the officially allocated budget of Rs1.5 billion for the purpose.

The official says that Prof Jalal has been protesting in the high-level official meetings against the “undue interference” in the PIC affairs and the ‘odd mode of governance’ in the institute, demanding that he be given the freedom to run the facility as per the best international practices, but of no avail.

According to the official, Prof Jala believes that the major responsibility of a head of a medical institute was ‘to improve the healthcare standards’ rather than handling the protocol assignments. He had also proposed introducing electronic waiting list system in the PIC Lahore to curb the “protocol culture” so that all patients could be treated equally, regardless of their status, but was opposed by internal and external lobbies.

“Despite being a professor of cardiac surgery, I have been left to run canteens and parking stands of the cardiac institute rather than improving quality of health care,” the official quoted Prof Jalal as saying.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2024