HYDERABAD: The search committee appointed by the Sindh government has shortlisted three candidates for the post of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) vice chancellor.

The interviews were held in Karachi on Monday.

According to a source close to the search committee, the name of a controversial candidate, Dr Anila Attaur Rehman, who is a pro-vice chancellor of LUMHS, is not among the three shortlisted candidates. Earlier, her name appeared among the eight shortlisted candidates but this evoked a strongreaction from the senior faculty members. Dr Anila holds a PhD degree but none of the three finally shortlisted candidates holds the degree.

The three candidates are Prof Dr A.Razzaq Sheikh, the dean of surgery at LUMHS and a councillor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP); Prof Dr Bikha Ram, the chairman of the department of medicine and a former research director at LUMHS; and Prof Dr Akbar Nizamani, a retired professor of paediatrics at LUMHS.

Besides the three, the five candidates shortlisted by the search committee after the interviews were Prof Dr Aziz Leghari, Prof Dr Mevo Sultan, Prof Dr Sattar Memon, Prof Dr Alchtar Baloch and Prof Dr Anila Attaur Rehman.

The name of Dr Akhtar Baloch, who was from the Dow University of Medical and Health Sciences, was dropped lately following last scrutiny on account of the required number of published research papers. Dr Mevo Sultan also did not appear, therefore, interviews of six candidates were held on Monday.A source privy to the interviews said `the decision for these three names is unanimous,` adding that the names had been submitted for perusal of the chief minister in alphabetical order.

`Each candidate is given marks for his/her administrative and academic experience, research papers and conduct during the interview,` the source said. He claimed that the shortlisting of three candidates was done purely on merit.

It is learnt that Dr Bikha Ram has the highest number of research papers close to 110 to his credit that have been published in research journals.

It is also learnt that Dr Razzaq Sheikh will retire in December and Dr Bikha Ram will serve the university for another four and a half years as teacher. Dr Nizamani has already retired.

The chief minister will finalise the name of the new vice chancellor after returningfrom Saudi Arabia, where he is currently performing Haj.

Currently, Dr Noshad A. Shaikh is serving as the LUMHS vice chancellor af ter completing his two back-to-back tenures.

Search committee The search committee is headed by Deedar Hussain Shah, a former chief justice of the Sindh High Court and retired judge of the apex court. He has also served as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman for three months in the previous PPP-led government but the Supreme Court had ruled against his appointment.

Other members of the committee are former Sindh University vice chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, former senior member Board of Revenue Anwar Hyder, universities and boards secretary Naveed Sheikh, Prof Younus Soomro and Prof Iqbal Memon.