SKMCH assisting teaching hospitals to improve services.

PESHAWAR -- Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is assisting the medical teaching institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to improve patient care.

The province has enforced Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015 to grant financial and administrative autonomy to the hospitals and make services effective. The law was drafted under the guidance of Prof Nausherwan Burki, the architect of SKMCH and RC Lahore and Peshawar.

He has been working as chairman of the Board of Governors of Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar since 2015. A policy board was constituted in 2019 through an amendment to MTIRA 2015 to ensure that all 11 MTIs pursue uniform policies. Prof Burki was named chairman of the policy board. Now, he is calling the shots regarding the MTIs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Dr Faisal Sultan, the chief executive officer of SKMCH Lahore, was BoG chairman of Khyber Teaching Hospital till he became federal health minister. Dr Faisal also quit his position of CEO at SKMCH as well as chairmanship of BoG KTH after his present assignment.

Dr Asif Loya made BoG chairman of Peshawar Institute of Cardiology

Dr Aasim Yusuf, the incumbent CEO of SKMCH Lahore, has been working as BoG chairman of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad since 2015.

On October 5, the health department notified BoGs for MTIs. Dr Asif Loya, a chief medical officer at SKMCH, was made BoG chairman of Peshawar Institute of Cardiology through the notification.

Officials in health department said that members of BoG were nominated by a search committee headed by health minister for a period of three years. The minister searched for prominent health professionals to name people for all powerful BoGs, they said.

Officials said that the names were solicited by the minister using variety of sources and reviewing their past achievements. The minister's office subsequently gets opinions from the colleagues of the would-be members of BoGs and tries to get people with backgrounds in finance, administration, law...