ISLAMABAD: After a series of controversies at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the matter has reached the Prime Minister’s Office and the Parliamentary Committee on Health.
As the hospital is affiliated with the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), four out of five dean positions are vacant. The head of the Medicine Department has not been appointed.
Meanwhile, the executive director (ED) of Pims has notified himself as head of the Critical Care Department.
Moreover, allegations have been made that subject specialists are not being sent to the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) for interviews, leading to growing apprehensions over appointments.
However, Executive Director Pims Dr Rana Imran Sikander said that he had replies to all the allegations against him.
It is worth mentioning that the issue heated up again on Monday during an internal meeting chaired by SZABMU Vice Chancellor Dr Tanveer Khaliq. It was discussed that four out of five dean positions were vacant. A professor of medicine informed the meeting that the former head of the department (HoD), Dr Shajee Siddiqui, had retired, but a new head was not being appointed as per rules, which require the senior-most professor of the department to be appointed as HoD.
It was also alleged that ED Dr Rana Imran had become a permanent ED in BPS-21 but had designated himself as HoD of Critical Care. Another allegation was that subject specialists were not being sent to the FPSC for interviews, compromising appointments.
One of the participants said that the chain of command was being affected due to the absence of deans and HoDs.
A senior SZABMU official, wishing not to be quoted, said that unfortunately the positions of deans had been ignored over the past few years.
“However, newly appointed VC Dr Tanveer Khaliq has started working on it. Currently, only Musa Khan is working as dean of Basic Sciences, while the positions of deans of Surgery, Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing are vacant. As per rules approved by the University Senate, headed by the President of Pakistan, the senior-most professors will be nominated as deans,” he said.
Replying to a question, the university official said that Pims was only an affiliated hospital and not a constituent unit, due to which the university could not dictate its policies or intervene in alleged irregularities.
Professor of Medicine Dr Shafat Khatoon has written a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, stating that she was writing in the public interest as two major recruitment processes, assistant professors and postgraduate (PG) inductions, were underway at Pims.
She alleged that both processes were marred by serious procedural flaws and unlawful practices, raising grave concerns about merit, transparency and legality. She said the impact of these flaws extended beyond individual candidates and posed a real danger to the future functioning of the vital national institution.
“ED has nominated doctors from entirely unrelated specialties to act as departmental representatives for general medicine, a highly specialised and high-burden discipline. These individuals neither possess the requisite subject expertise nor represent the concerned department in any true academic or professional sense,” she alleged in her application.
Talking to Dawn, ED Pims Dr Rana Imran Sikander said that all the allegations levelled against him were absolutely wrong.
“The fact is that Professor of Medicine Dr Shafat Khatoon was promoted in 2023, but now she is trying to become head of the department. Every department has multiple specialties, and one person has to be appointed as head. On the other hand, it is the job of the syndicate and the university to appoint deans, so I have nothing to do with it,” he said.
Replying to another allegation, he said that anyone could be sent to the FPSC as there was no requirement to send a subject specialist. “Representatives just analyse whether a candidate is suitable for their hospital or not.”
When asked whether he had retained the HoD position of the Critical Care Department despite being promoted as ED, Dr Rana Imran said he was HoD of the Anaesthesia and Critical Care departments. “After becoming ED, I appointed a female doctor as HoD of the Anaesthesia Department. There is no senior professor in Critical Care, so I have retained the HoD position to ensure the department continues functioning. I have been practising as well,” he added.
Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2025
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