Vice-chancellor of Khyber Medical University slot Fairness of shortlist questioned
PESHAWAR: The short-listing process for the post of vice-chancellor of Khyber Medical University (KMU) has reportedly been manipulated in a way so as to catapult a few selected candidates for the interview, denying due right to other aspirants.
Nowadays the modus operandi for choosing blue-eyed is to develop criteria for short-listing that benefits only the favourites. The same technique was adopted in the selection of chief executives for the four tertiary care hospitals of the province and now merit appeared to be the casualty in the selection of the VC, said a source in Health Department.
The interviews for the post were held Thursday last where eight aspirants were called for interview.
Many deserving candidates, who have good background, were entirely ignored.
Citing an example, the source said that an assistant professor of dentistry was short-listed who did not have any administrative or academic background but a recently retired professor and principal of Khyber Medical College was not considered for the interview.
Similarly, former chief executive of Ayub Medical Complex and Head of Surgery Department at Ayub Medical College was not even considered for the interview, he added.
Criticising the criteria for short-listing, a senior professor said it was a tailored criteria because very junior professors were short listed while professors with 10-15 years experience were totally ignored. He said the Health Department should have told about the criteria on which they short- listed the candidates.
It shows that the whole exercise was meant to accommodate the blue-eyed person. It cannot be called as a transparent process, he added.
The senior doctors expressed their disappointment over the selection procedure and said that politicians would influence the decision.
They were of the opinion that depriving the senior doctors even of appearing in the interview was seen as an act of total indifference towards merit.
