12/04/2025
KTH/KMC chairpersons appointments spark uproar over alleged favouritism
Bureau report
PESHAWAR: Serious allegations of favoritism, administrative interference and disregard for merit have surfaced over the recent selection of departmental chairpersons at Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Khyber Medical College (KMC), raising alarm among majority of the faculty members and casting a shadow over one of the province's premier medical institutions.
Conducted between February and March 2025, the appointment process for the chairpersons in both Basic and Clinical Sciences is under fire for procedural irregularities and what insiders have described as “deliberate manipulation” by the administration.
According to multiple sources within the institutions and members of the selection committee, the process was effectively overridden by the personal preferences of the administration, and allegedly ignored recommendations and altered final selection lists.
Faculty members claim that instead of merit, the selections rewarded individuals with personal connections to the administration.
“Despite a formally constituted committee, the decisions were predetermined,” said the inside sources from the selection panel. “The committee's role was reduced to a mere formality.”
When probed into the matter, it was revealed from the concrete evidence that the Chairperson positions in various Departments were decided against the merit. The less qualified candidates on the positions of Assistant and Associate Professor with negligible academic and administrative experience were preferred over the Professors with higher qualifications and decades of academic and administrative expertise with remarkable research and clinical achievements.
In a development that has intensified the controversy, it was alleged that appointment orders for certain departments were typed and printed even before the interviews were held. Few candidates were reportedly told by the individuals close to the administration: “Why are you even appearing for the interview? The orders have already been typed and that can be verified.”
Departments where merit was allegedly bypassed include Physiology, Anatomy, Medicine, Forensic Medicine, Pathology, Pharmacology and Orthopaedics where as the rest of the departments had mostly only one candidate appearing for the interview.
Sources have further confirmed that a small group of individuals including the Personal Assistant of Dean and the institution's Legal Manager have been exerting disproportionate influence over the entire process.
“Decisions are being orchestrated from outside formal structures,” said one insider.
“Even the decision-makers including the Dean seem unaware of how deeply this group has entrenched itself.”
In an unusual move, several members of the selection committee officially recorded their objections, citing an “undue interference” by the Dean. However, their concerns were reportedly dismissed without explanation.
Affected candidates subsequently lodged formal appeals with the BoG regarding the inclusion of one of the biased faculty members in both the scrutiny and selection committees and urging a review of what they termed a “flawed and politically-driven process.” No action has been taken to date.
“It was revealed, that the Dean himself came to the interview room and influenced the selection panel on whom to select and whom to reject,” pointing to what can be described as a culture of institutional overreach.
When contacted, Dr Waqar Ajmal, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Khyber Teaching Hospital outrightly denied these claims.
He stated: “Every credible information is looked into and decisions taken on merit. There is however a process we follow for everything to ensure fairness. We will get to the bottom of every wrongdoing, correct it, and ensure it does not happen in future.”
With growing dissatisfaction and calls for transparency mounting, the deserving applicants have demanded that the BoG immediately re-evaluate the recent appointments, constitute an independent inquiry and ensure future selections are merit based and free of administrative bias.
Stakeholders warn that failure to act decisively risks eroding the credibility of KTH and KMC as a centre of academic excellence.
“Institutional integrity,” said senior members, “depend not only on research and teaching, but on fair and impartial governance. KMC cannot afford to lose that trust.
Source: Authentic & to be kept anonymous
