PESHAWAR: There is considerable unrest among heads of the clinical and basic sciences departments at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s medical teaching institutions over the “denial” of opportunity to compete for the dean’s position.

The government enforced the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act (MTIRA) in 2015 and extended it to 10 medical colleges and their affiliated hospitals in the province.

Deans hold the most influential position in MTI-covered institutions, as they head medical and dental colleges as well as the hospitals they’re affiliated with.

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Officials told Dawn on condition of anonymity that two public sector medical colleges functioning in Peshawar and Nowshera under the respective MTIs recently advertised the dean’s positions, seeking applications from those with seven years of administrative experience.

They urge policy board to review recruitment criteria

They, however, said the advertisement published in newspapers to recruit deans had upset the chairperson of the MTIs.

“We aren’t eligible for the dean’s position because we lack the required administrative experience of seven years. Under MTIRA, consultants are made chairpersons of their departments for two tenures — three years each — and even if a person remains chairperson for two tenures, which is six years in total, they don’t have the seven years of experience required to become the dean,” said a senior consultant at one of the MTIs in Peshawar.

He said most specialists were working under the MTIRA on a contractual basis, with their employment contracts renewed every three years.

The consultant, however, added that each of those specialists could head departments only for two terms totaling six years, so they couldn’t become deans even if they were highly qualified.

“The MTI’s policy board should review the experience clause mentioned in the dean’s employment advertisement. We have given full time to MTIs and deserve to be posted as deans,” he said.

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The consultant said the advertisement went against the MTIRA by denying MTIs’ senior employees the opportunity to compete for the dean’s position.

A senior medical teacher told Dawn that the dean’s positions were often held by clinical consultants, who remained preoccupied with their private practice and didn’t give enough time to academic affairs.

He said non-MTI consultants had been working as the heads of departments for a long time because they were barred from holding those positions at the enactment of the law on MTIs.

“Now, only MTI employees can become chairpersons because they do private practice in their respective MTIs,” he said.

He said those clinical consultants had more experience and should be selected as deans in light of their experience as the heads of their respective units and departments.

“Not only MTI but basic sciences consultants, too, should be allowed to apply for the dean’s position as they are medical educationists and can give more time as the dean to college and hospital affairs. They don’t do clinics,” he said.

Another teacher claimed that a seven-year experience for the dean’s position was in line with the MTI’s regulations.

He, however, said the age restriction of 60 years was not present in the regulations, suggesting that that restriction was meant for the selection of the authorities’ blue-eyed persons, including deputationists — an act against the spirit of the MTI law.

“In the case of selection as the dean, the selectee will need to quit the current job, which is not mentioned in the advertisement. Medical educators could play a significant role in the development of MTIs. A case in point is the current vice-chancellor of the Khyber Medical University, under whose administrative control the varsity has made immense progress,” he said.

The teacher said members of his community rejected the advertisement and appealed to the government to issue fresh instructions to grant a “level playing field” to non-clinicians to apply for the dean’s positions.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024