LAHORE - Former Head of the Radiology Department, Jinnah Hospital, Prof Dr Nasir Zaidi has said that by dint of hard work and devotion he has turned the department into an exemplary unit to be followed by others as a role model. In a statement issued here Tuesday, Dr Zaidi while contradicting a news item appeared in a section of Press regarding making a wrong analysis of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) report of Institutes head Prof Dr Javed Akram, said, The Radiology Department takes full responsibility for the report issued to Allama Iqbal Medical College (AIMC) Principal Prof Dr Javed Akram. There was no such word as 'tumor in the report issued to the Principal diagnosed post-traumatic sequelae of malalignment and reactive hypertrophy of muscles (inflammatory changes). It appears as if an intentional attempt has been made to call into question the reputation and excellent working of the Radiology Department of the Jinnah Hospital. When this news item is considered in its entirety, it also reflects on the fame and competence of the professor under whom the department is working, Dr Zaidi claimed. He said the news report had also added that I was a 'chronic absentee and I had been placed at the disposal of the Punjab Health Department Secretary. I obtained ex-Pakistan leave that was duly sanctioned and approved by the AIMC Principal and Health Department Secretary, he maintained. The phrase 'chronic absentee has been misused for my sanctioned leave and is hurtful to my professional reputation as a radiologist, he further said. He said that the Board of Management (BoM) of the Jinnah Hospital had withdrawn its request to Secretary Health Department for my repatriation in its recent meeting on August 07, 2009. Besides, I have worked day and night to make the department as an exemplary unit. The statistics of how many patients received diagnostics reports daily before and after my joining as head of this department could be obtained from the record of the hospital to verify the point I had made, he concluded. Meanwhile, Principal AIMC/Jinnah Hospital Prof Dr Javed Akram has confirmed the news item and its contents about Dr Zaidi. I never sanctioned ex-Pakistan leave to Dr Zaidi, Dr Javed said while talking to The Nation on Tuesday. He said that the former Head of the Radiology Department Dr Nasir Zaidi performed his knee MRI and suspected a tumour in his report. The MRI test was repeated again by the same department two days later, he said adding, This time I called a senior radiologist from outside the institute for assessment who evaluated that there was no tumour found in the second report. Usually MRI of a patient is repeated after at least a period of six months. In my case it was performed twice within only two days, showing that the first MRI was wrongly performed, the AIMC Principal added. He also confirmed that Dr Zaidi was repatriated by the Board of Management for his long absence from duty. However, the hospitals BoM Chairman Mian Mehboob Iqbal stated that the Board had repatriated Prof Nasir Zaidi placing him at the disposal of the Punjab Health Department three months back giving a sufficient time to the authorities concerned to make suitable substitute arrangements for the Jinnah Hospitals Radiology Department. However, it was the fault on the part of the Punjab Health Department that it could not fill the vacant post, he said. Resultantly, the BoM had no option but to withdraw the decision of repatriation of the former Head of the Radiology Department Jinnah Hospital Prof Dr Nasir Raza Zaidi.