LAHORE: The PML-N government in Punjab has decided to revise the ‘controversial search committee’ constituted during the tenure of the PTI government for selection of new vice chancellors of five medical universities of the province.

The decision was made following some controversies generated on formation of the five-member committee formed when Prof Yasmin Rashid was the provincial health minister.

The committee comprised of former Professor of Pathology Prof Salma Haq, ex-head of Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Prof Dr Mohammad Azhar, former civil servant Qazi Afaq Ahmad, former principal of Allama Iqbal Medical University Prof Mahmood Shaukat and the health secretary of the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department.

The issue was raised by some candidates contesting for the posts in-question, saying that the former government had violated the criteria while nominating the members before constituting the high profile body, an official privy to the information, told Dawn.

He added that the then government had been sensitized about the issue by some senior medics who said that it would have to face litigation if selection of the VCs were made through the ‘controversial search committee’ if not revised. However, the PTI government ignored the warning. They had raised another issue that one of the members of the committee was just an MPhil degree holder while the criteria clearly defined that the member should have a PhD degree or fellowship.

The official said many senior doctors were also shocked to find that the committee was not having a member from the judiciary as its requirement had been clearly mentioned in the criteria. He said the previous government had notified the search committee in a haste to select candidates of choice as the head of the medical varsities, ignoring the facts that the varsities were dealing with the medical education and matters related to the health of the patients.

The source said the Punjab health authorities held some meetings on the objections raised in this respect and finally issued an order to the sections concerned of the department to prepare a draft of the search committee to revise the formation of the body in order to ensure transparency in selection of new heads of the medical universities.

The universities included the University of Health Sciences (UHS), the King Edward Medical University KEMU), Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU), Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) and Faisalabad Medical University (FMU).

The tenure of the VCs of these varsities is going to expire within next few weeks and the process of selection of the new aspirants has already been delayed due to the formation of the controversial ‘search committee’.

Former health minister and Member Punjab Assembly (MPA) Khawaja Salman Rafique confirmed to Dawn that the government had initiated a process to revise the search committee constituted during the PTI government. He said the health authorities were working on the matter to nominate the officials of integrity and those having qualification as defined in the criteria to form the new search committee.

A summary in this respect would be forwarded to the CM Punjab for approval soon, Mr Rafique added.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2022