Act violated as Dr Tariq made MMC director

PESHAWAR: The Board of Governors (BoG) of Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) has violated the very basic rule of conflict of interest of Medical Teaching Institution Reforms Act 2015 by appointing Dr Tariq Mahmood as Hospital Director despite the fact that he is running two private hospitals in Mardan.

Also, the selection committee formed by the BoG for recruitment of Hospital Director, had shortlisted and called for interview Dr Mohammad Ali Chohan, who has been facing corruption charges in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with the Hepatitis vaccine scandal.

The BoG of Mardan Medical Complex (MMC), a tertiary care hospital of Bacha Khan Medical College (BKMC), had advertised positions of Hospital Director and Medical Director.The BoG had formed selection committee for appointing the Hospital Director.

Dr Amjad Raza was chairman of the selection committee while Brig (R) Ajmal, Hospital Director of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad, and some MMC staffers were its members.Dr Amjad Rana and Brig (R) Ajmal were external members of the committee.

Dr Amjad Rana is said to have served under Dr Fazle Hadi, who headed the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad.The committee had shortlisted some senior doctors including Dr Arshad Ahmad Khan, DHO Nowshera, Dr Abdul Khaliq, DHO Kohat, Dr Ali Ahmad, Dr Fazle Malik, Dr Tariq Mahmood and Dr Mohammad Ali Chohan. They were called for interview on Sunday.

The MMC faculty members as well as the shortlisted candidates were surprised when they came to know that Dr Tariq Mahmood had been selected as Hospital Director.“We realized during the interview that Chairman Dr Fazle Hadi had made up his mind to select Dr Tariq Mahmood, but we didn’t react,” said one of the shortlisted candidates.

Pleading anonymity, he said Dr Tariq Mahmood has been serving as medical officer in MMC and running two separate private hospitals, Spogmai and Sheikh Maltoon Medical Institute (SMI). He said this was clearly a case of conflict of interest.

“If you remember two ministers had intervened and stopped Prof Dr Ziaul Islam from becoming chairman BoG as he was running his private clinic in Peshawar. Now they have selected a doctor who is running two hospitals, one of which is located right in front of MMC from where admitted patients are being shifted and operated upon,” a senior faculty member of MMC told The News.

He said it is clear cut condition of MTI Act 2015 for Medical Director, Hospital Director and Dean that they would not run any private business in their surroundings if selected for any of these positions.

The sources in the MMC said Dr Tariq Mahmood had never served on administrative positions such as Medical Superintendent or District Health Officer (DHO).The former chief executive had once engaged him as deputy medical superintendent.

When reached by phone, Dr Fazle Hadi, chairman of the BoG of MMC, said he didn’t know about any such condition.“We will ask him to hand over the charge of private hospitals after his selection,” he argued.Asked if Dr Tariq Mahmood is the owner how would he hand over the charge of his private hospitals to others, Dr Fazle Hadi said he would look into it.

Meanwhile, the BoG on Monday appointed a senior physician, Prof Dr Amir Khan, as first regular Medical Director of the Mardan Medical Complex . He has worked at a number of administrative positions in different parts of the province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.