Govt appoints Kamrul Hassan Khan as new VC of BSMMU

The government has appointed Prof Kamrul Hassan Khan Vice-chancellor to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

Khan, a professor of pathology at Bangladesh’s only medical university, is the secretary general of Peshajibi Somonnay Parishad, a pro-Awami League platform of professionals.

The university in a statement said he took over charges on Tuesday as the second successive tenure of his predecessor Prof Pran Gopal Datta ended on Monday.

President Abdul Hamid appointed him for the next three years as per university rules.

Bangladesh Medical Association, of which Prof Khan is a vice-president, and ruling Awami League’s physician wing Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad, of which he is a life member, congratulated him on his appointment.

He is also the general secretary of the university’s teachers’ association.

A pathologist with about 20 publications in national and international journals to his credit, Prof Khan, however, is known in Bangladesh more for his political and social engagements.

In his immediate reaction, he told bdnews24.com that he would work “to change the negative perception about physicians”.

“With my dedication, I’ll take the academic and research activities of this university forward.”

He joined Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971 when he was a secondary school student.

He hails from Tangail. His wife, Dr Masuda Begum, is a professor of haematology at the university.

Well-known actor and playwright Mamunur Rashid is his elder brother.

He passed his MBBS from Mymensingh Medical College in 1982 and joined government service as a medical officer in 1984.

He joined BSMMU in 1991 when it was a post-graduate medical institute called IPGMR.

Prof Khan also sits on the board of the ‘International physicians for the prevention of Nuclear War’, a Nobel peace-winning organisation.

He was the former president of Sandhani National Eye Donation Society, the only organisation in Bangladesh that collects eye posthumously.

Khan placed floral wreaths at the portraits of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhanmondi 32 and also at the university premises before taking up his new assignment.

He was a member of the Awami League’s central election working group during the 2008 general elections.