LWH senior registrar post lying vacant for 30 years

LAHORE – The post of senior registrar has been lying vacant in Lady Willingdon Hospital (LWH) for more than 30 years thanks to the negligence of the Health Department. LWH is one of those hospitals in Punjab where only mother and child care is being facilitated. More than 90 deliveries take place daily in the hospital and about 300 female patients visit the outpatient department.
Sources said that 24 seats of assistant professor, associate professor, senior registrar (anesthesia), medical officers, senior registrar radiology and senior registrar (pediatric) were lying vacant. Sources said the position of senior registrar (pediatric) had been lying vacant for more than 30 years now. Dr Zeba was the last senior registrar in LWH in the early 80s but after her nobody was appointed to this position.
Anesthesia is part and parcel of deliveries but in LWH, three seats of senior registrar (anesthesia) have been lying vacant for a long time. Besides, seven seats of medical officers need filling. LWH Additional Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Sharif, who is shouldering additional responsibilities as medical superintendent, told Pakistan Today that he had just assumed charge of MS after Dr Afzal Shaheen’s transfer and therefore he did not know why the vacant seats had not been filled.
Former LWH MS Dr Afzal Shaheen told Pakistan Today that the hospital administration had advertised for the vacant posts three times but nobody showed interest. He said the administration requested the Health Department to convert the senior registrar post into that of a pediatrician, so that they could easily fill the vacancy.
He said the administration had been informed several times about the vacant seats but to no avail. He acknowledged that the seat of senior registrar (pediatric) had been vacant for more than 30 years. Health Special Secretary Waseem Mukhtar told Pakistan Today that the department had authorized medical superintendents to recruit suitable doctors against existing seats.
He said that he would look into the possibility of converting the senior registrar’s post into that of a pediatrician. Health Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad was not available for comment.