A Law Full of Flaws that requires Full Review

Appointment of the Vice Chancellor in Health Science Institutes in Nepal Based under the present advertisement and Act will be administratively and academically flawed as it prioritizes bureaucratic compliance, over proven academic and robust administrative capabilities needed to lead the academic health institutions.

The flaws are big, but fortunately fixable. It will, however, require both sensitivity and an early remedial action to contain a lot of damage to the image and efficiency of them health Institution in Nepal. Two clarities are required before building the proposition for appointment of vice chancellor of institute of health sciences.

First, what actually do we mean by the Institute of Health Sciences and what do we understand by the statutory ‘ responsibilities of the vice chancellor of the institute ? The first definition is easy and more or less precise. The second one relates to the actual role, vision and the job assigned to the Vice chancellor. It includes setting the academic strategic direction, managing the critical mass of faculty and students, launching new academic programs in the cutting-edge technologies, conducting ongoing and upcoming examinations, saving the precious time/academic year of the students, preserving institutional autonomy, ensuring transparency, financial sustainability within the backdrop of legal and judicial activism and increasing unrest among administrative staffs.

The Vice-Chancellor of the health Science institute must have exceptional academic caliber and the same academic resonance and credibility as faculty. There cannot be alternative definitions of academic scholarship aligned with job descriptions of the vice chancellor of the institute . The procedure for the selection of the vice chancellor of the Health Science Institutes 2083 as laid in the present advertisement and law Considers Government Doctors at Senior Administrative Position (The 11 levels or equivalent)”as the Minimum Essential Academic Qualification eligible to apply for the Post of Vice-Chancellor. It is flawed in intent and letter, and poor in reasoning.

The management experience in health service sector or leadership skills in operational heath system management cannot be viewed as a proxy for academic scholarship. Institute of health sciences have an entirely separate hospital governance structure in relation to the government hospital. For faculties from institute of health science, metrics to measure academic promotion are well-established, generally standardized and allow for portability between different institute of health science. For teaching to be considered scholarship, it must be academically validated by curriculum, susceptible to critical review, validation by different form of examination.

Scrutiny and accessibility for exchange and use by other scholars is another condition. Unless teaching has all five of these characteristics, it cannot be considered academic educational scholarship. The academic work and experience measured by Academic Performance Indictor (API) in case of senior doctors in the government health sectors (level XI and above) is arguably much smaller than for most mid-career faculties in institute of health sciences, whereas the post of the vice chancellor of institute of health sciences is considered as the top of the academic career.

Doctors in the government health sectors constitute the major contributory force in the National Health Service, where they provide the bulk of clinical care and uphold the mission of the National Health Service. With their medical backgrounds, they have a unique insight into general administration in health sector, but Institute of Health Sciences is different from government hospitals in their tripartite mission of clinical care, medical education and research. They conduct Convocation ceremonies (दीक्षांतसमारोह) at which students are awarded their respective degrees publicly.

The Vice-Chancellor of such an institute of health science should have exceptional competence with academic standing and by virtue of his academic and scholarly credentials and should be able to preside at convocation of the Institute of health sciences for conferring degrees even in the absence of the Chancellor. The process of selection and appointment of the Vice-Chancellors in Institute of Health Sciences should be transparent and without any Contributory, Complimentary or Decisive role of Ministry of Health and Food safety (MOHFS) including Minister of Health and Food Safety (though a Pro Chancellor). The process should be done by the Selection Committee which should be a pluralistic and expert based peer-review assessment body without political representation.

Only those who have attained a certain prescribed standard in the Academic Medicine and Academic Administration can reasonably be expected to select appropriate candidates as Vice-Chancellors in Institute of Health Sciences. The Chairperson of the selection committee should be a medical professional of outstanding ability, proven academic administrative capacity and integrity and not below the rank of Vice Chancellor. Members of selection committees must be professionals of at least the same level of qualification required for the vacancy.

The selection committee should recommend the name of only one candidate for the post of VC and one other candidate in the waiting list to the Chancellor through the Pro Chancellor for the appointment. An official attestation from the authorized government agency to the effect that the appointment is nonpolitical and merit based make it more objective and transparent. Its legitimacy, in case of certain doubts , can however, be challenged in the court of law.

A committee led or coordinated by minister as is the practice at present invites conflict of interest. A simple formal declaration of political neutrality by the candidate in their application, stating their lack of affiliation with any political party doesn’t automatically guarantee a non-political appointment. For any appointment to be non-political, the selection committee must also be non-political and politically neutral and free from direct ministerial control.

It is also a standard legal practice to ensure that the salary, allowances and key terms of service are specifically communicated in all vacancy advertisements ensuring that candidates are aware about their true financial worth. The current Vacancy advertisements are vague; do not have clear statement of salaries, it conceals allowances and incentives undermining transparency .

It leaves room for policy level corruption in future in the pretext of “as per institutes rules”. Any recruitment which fails to exhibit complete remuneration disclosure before the selection stage creates avenues for policy level corruption. There should also be a mandatory cooling period of at least 2 years after completion of every tenure if they are to be reconsidered for the posts of vice chancellor in the same or other institute of health sciences.

This will also stop the so-called “Revolving-Door Phenomenon”. Thus and therefore, the selection process of the Vice chancellor of any Health science institution should be such that it only allows the appointment of an established scholar with exceptional academic caliber as vice chancellor who can justify his all the three functions: as a Chief Academic Officer responsible for providing clear academic leadership to the institute of health sciences , a Chief Executive Officer who is accountable for the management and organization of the institute of health sciences, and as a Chief Ambassador, responsible for representing the institute successfully and with distinction locally, nationally and internationally.

Then only it will help in increasing the pool of most talented and suitable applicants for academic leadership positions and encourage them to “strive and wait for taking up the challenge” of academic leadership positions to train the next generation of health care professionals. Author Information Prof (Dr) Narendra Bhatta is Presently Professor of internal Medicine, Professor & Head of the Department, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS) Dharan, Nepal with more than 25 years of experience in the field of Academic Clinical Medicine, Academic Administration and Research. He can be reached at [email protected]