MULTAN: The Punjab Health Department has posted a BS-19 doctor as the Medical Superintendent of the Nishtar Hospital against a grade-20 post.

Dr Abdul Rehman Qureshi, former MS of the District Headquarters Hospital, Rajanpur, replaced Dr Ashig Malik on Friday. Dr Qureshi was promoted to BS-19 a couple ofmonths back and is among the junior most doctors in this grade as well. He is now the boss of 16 BS-20 doctors.

Sources said Dr Qureshi worked as the Rajanpur DHQ MS (a BS-19 post) for over a year despite the fact that he was then a BS-18 officer. He also served as the Rojhan Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for about six months.

They said the appointment of Dr Qureshi who did not have the experience of managing a major hospital as the MS of a teaching institution like Nishtar was beyond their comprehension.

They said the Rajanpur DHQ had just 133 beds and handled up to 700 patients a day whereas Nishtar had 1107 beds, admitted 2500 patients at a time and dailyreceived 3000 patients at its emergency and over 10,000 at OPD. The number of Nishtar beds would rise to over 1700 when it became university in near future, as announced by the Punjab government.

They said Dr Qureshi was at 769th spot in the seniority list of senior medical officers issued by the health department through a notification in November 2015 and was promoted to the BS-18 on Feb 15, 2011. His joining date is Jan 24, 1989.

They said that a penal headed by the Secretary, Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education, Najam Ahmad Shah conducted the interview for the post of the Nishtar MS on March 19 without advertising it. Qureshiwas the only candidate whose summary was forwarded for the purpose.

Sources said the entire panel which conducted the interview termed Mr Qureshi misfit for the challenging post but approved his appointment as the MS of the largest hospital of the southern Punjab over the intervention of an influential personality of the province.

Talking to media, Dr Qureshi said that he had joined the hospital with the task of providing best health facilities to the people of southern Punjab. He said that due to his efforts, the people of Rajanpur were getting better health facilities.

Secretary Najam Shah said since he was not alone in takingthis decision, other committee members should also be asked that why a junior officer had been appointed against a senior post.

He said that former MS was also a BS-19 of ficer.

He did not reply when asked why no other candidate was called for the interview.

`Finding a suitable candidate isnot aneasy task asIhave been interviewing doctors during the last one year,` he said.

Though Nishtar Hospital is an autonomous health institution, its board of management, like other BoMs in the Punjab, is bypassed in such important matters.

Its BoM head Khwaja Jalaluddin Rumi confirmed that their opinion was not sought by the health department.