LAHORE: Punjab has almost finalised the names of permanent vice chancellors for five of its main medical universities. All five nominations will now go to the provincial cabinet for approval. One of them, at Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU), went to a candidate who was not first on the search committee’s merit list.
According to an official document, four of the five nominees were ranked first by the search committees set up to select vice chancellors. At FJMU, the nominee was ranked third.
Prof Dr Mahmood Ayaz has been nominated as vice chancellor of King Edward Medical University (KEMU) in Lahore. He was first on the search committee’s merit list.
Major General (retd) Sohail Sabir has been nominated for the University of Health Sciences (UHS), which conducts examinations for, and oversees, medical and dental colleges across Punjab. He was also first on the merit list.
For Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU), the nominee is Major General (retd) Sohail Amin, who topped the search committee’s ranking as well.
At Faisalabad Medical University (FMU), Prof Syed Asghar Naqvi has been nominated. The document says he too was first on the merit list.
The FJMU appointment followed a different path. Prof Dr Zahra Khanum has been nominated as vice chancellor even though she was third on the search committee’s list.
According to the document, questions were raised about the professional profile of the top-ranked candidate, Prof Dr Muhammad Moeen. His main specialty is ophthalmology, and the document says his profile did not fully match FJMU’s institutional requirements.
For the second-ranked candidate, Prof Dr Tayyaba Waseem, officials took into account that she had no previous administrative experience at university level. The document notes she has served at Services Hospital and AIMG.
The document describes Prof Dr Zahra Khanum as a gynaecologist with administrative and management skills. She has worked in various positions at FJMU and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital for about ten years.
Her close knowledge of how FJMU works was also given weight in her nomination. The document mentions a Diamond Award the institution received during her tenure.
According to the document, the Chief Minister of Punjab has already approved her appointment as FJMU vice chancellor.
FJMU is a public medical university for women. It works closely with Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of Lahore’s busiest teaching hospitals, where obstetrics and gynaecology make up a large share of the clinical workload. Supporters of the decision are likely to argue that a gynaecologist who has spent years inside the institution is a better fit than a higher-ranked candidate from another specialty.
The decision also raises a question that has come up repeatedly in university appointments: how much room the government should have to set aside a search committee’s ranking. Search committees exist to reduce political influence over university leadership. When the government departs from their order, the reasons usually face public scrutiny. In this case, the reasons have been written down, which gives the cabinet specific grounds to consider.
On the Chief Minister’s instructions, the provincial cabinet will take up the vice chancellor appointments at its next meeting. The administrative department will brief the cabinet on the process.
Filling these posts on a permanent basis is expected to bring stability to decisions on faculty hiring, curriculum, examinations and teaching hospitals, especially as the province overhauls hospital fire safety and orders new neonatal care SOPs across public hospitals.
With merit-list toppers chosen for four universities and the third-ranked candidate chosen for FJMU, the process to appoint permanent leadership at five of Punjab’s most important medical universities is now at its final stage.
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