ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine (NIRM) got a full time head after almost a year`s delay.

Dr Fazal Mola was appointed head on deputation for three years and Dr Zahid Larik was appointed acting head of Polyclinic. A permanent head for the hospital will be appointed after the due process.

Dr Mola came to Islamabad in the early 1990s and was absorbed as an employee of the federal government in 1996. In 2016, when he was head of NIRM and also had acting charge of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) as administrator, he was repatriated to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The decision to send him back to KP was taken after the Supreme Court`s verdict that all provincial employees absorbed as federal employees be repatriated.

The issue was discussed a number of times at parliamentary committees and it was suggested that Dr Mola be brought back to Islamabad as he had started getting facilities for hospitals through donations including the extension of the Pims emergency and getting ventilators through donations.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Mola said he was sent to NIRM on deputation for three years.

However, the ad-hoc system could not be ended in Polyclinic and for almost two years, acting charge of the hospital has been given to Dr Larik, who was previously working at NIRM.

A doctor at Polyclinic said the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division has started the process for the appointment of a full time head for Polyclinic and that the process had been delayed due to a number of complications.

`The advertisement said only doctors with a domicile from Punjab can apply for the post and the matter was taken up by parliamentary committees. The rules are being amended now after which a new head will be appointed,` he said.-A Reporter