ISLAMABAD: The federal government has replaced the entire senior tier of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences following the inquiry into the fire that killed 14 newborn babies, with Dr Muhammad Salman formally assuming charge as Executive Director of the country’s largest public-sector hospital.
Separate notifications issued by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination confirm that Professor Dr Rana Imran Sikandar, the Executive Director of PIMS, has been suspended for 120 days. Dr Salman will hold the post for three years, or until a permanent officer becomes available.
The notifications set out a near-total reconstitution of the hospital’s command structure.
Joint Executive Director (Non-Medical) Chaudhry Waris Ali Raza has been suspended for 120 days, with Dr Altaf Hussain given additional charge of the post. Professor and Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Dr Nosheela Amjad has been suspended for the same period, with Dr Shumaila given current charge of the department.
Joint Executive Director of the Children’s Hospital, Dr Mutahir Shah, has also been suspended for 120 days; Dr Nuzhat Yasmin takes additional charge. Senior Registrar of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Dr Nagham Nawaz has been suspended, with Dr Amna assigned current charge of the senior registrar’s post at the Mother and Child Health unit.
Associate Professor of Paediatrics Dr Sadia Riaz has been suspended for 120 days, with Dr Rehmana taking current charge at the Children’s Hospital. PIMS Assistant Director (Security) Muhammad Usman has been suspended, and Hassan Ashraf given additional charge of hospital security.
Two further members of staff — charge nurse Nasreen and lady security official Maria — have been ordered to report to the administrative pool.
The reshuffle follows the fire that broke out at approximately 6:45am on 26 August in the neonatal intensive care unit on the third floor of the Mother and Child Health ward. Fifteen newborns were in the nursery. Only one was rescued.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the suspension of eight officials and directed that criminal proceedings be initiated, acting on the recommendations of an inquiry committee whose interim report was presented at a high-level meeting he chaired in Lahore. The four-member committee was headed by former interior secretary Shahid Khan and included Major General (retd) Dr Khursheed Uttra, Dr Barrister Nabeel Ahmed Awan and Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon.
The interim report concluded that the precise source of ignition remains technically unresolved. It cleared frontline clinical staff of the allegation that they abandoned the infants, citing CCTV evidence of immediate rescue attempts, while holding that ensuring the presence of doctors and allied staff on duty was the responsibility of the unit head. A separate incident report prepared by the Capital Development Authority found that emergency escape routes were locked or obstructed and described life-safety arrangements at the facility as inadequate.
Dr Salman chaired a meeting of departmental heads shortly after taking charge, attended by PIMS directors and administrative officers. Speaking to reporters afterwards, he said implementation of the inquiry committee’s preliminary report is his immediate priority.
Suspension is not accountability. Under the Efficiency and Discipline Rules 2020, a 120-day suspension is a holding measure that preserves the officer’s position pending formal proceedings; it can lapse, be extended, or end in reinstatement. The substantive test will be whether departmental inquiries and the criminal proceedings ordered by the Prime Minister are actually pursued to conclusion.
There is also a structural question the notifications do not answer. PIMS has cycled through executive directors repeatedly over the past decade, largely on acting or additional charge, and the institution has no autonomous governing board of the kind that shields tertiary hospitals in Punjab from ministerial churn. Appointing a new ED for “three years or until a permanent officer is available” repeats precisely the arrangement that produced the drift. Readers should watch for a second-stage reform: a statutory board, a capital replacement budget for the MCH block, and enforceable fire-safety certification. Without those, the next notification will look identical to this one.
-with additional input from journalist Babar Shahzad Turk
Leave a Reply