LAHORE- The board of trustees at Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore (SZH) are in the process of nominating a board of governors during their third meeting.
According to some media reports; The Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently gave the approval for forming a board of governors for the SZH. The decision has been taken to address numerous administrative issues. The third meeting of the board of trustees will be presided over by Khawaja Salman Raffique, who was nominated chairman of the BoT. The nominations will be sent to the chief minister for approval.
Medical Education Deputy Secretary Nasir Shakir confirmed that the meeting would be held soon, where the minimum number of directors would be seven.
One of the issues the board of governors is expected to deal with is the affiliation of Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Neyhan Medical and Dental College. The college was affiliated with the Punjab University till the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council de-notified the PU, and six other universities, in December last year. The PMDC had advised medical colleges to get affiliated with other universities.
Punjab University Legal Advisor Awais Khalid said the PMDC’s decision had been suspended. He said the PU did not fall under the PMDC’s purview and hence it did not have the authority to de-notify it. He said that next hearing of the case was scheduled for March.
Shaikh Zayed Hospital’s acting chairman Dr Farrukh Iqbal said that, he was not aware that a meeting of the board of trustees was planned in the days to come. He said; Forming a board of governors would be a positive step. There were several administrative issues the BoD would be required to address.
He said the final decision on affiliation would be taken by the board of directors. “However, the hospital prefers continuing affiliation with the Punjab University.”
Iqbal said that the hospital was an autonomous body. The board would also select a permanent chairman for the hospital.
Young Doctors Association President Dr Ahsan Lali said the SKZMDC’s administration was putting the future of more than 150 post-graduate trainees at stake. He said the PMDC had de-notified the PU for lacking a constituent medical and dental college. He said that the college should affiliate itself with the UHS.