KARACHI  -   Despite criticism from the provincial government, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said on Saturday the federal government had decided to take control of three hospitals run by the PPP-led Sindh government. It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had handed over the control of three major public sector hospitals – National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) –to the federal government.

In a message on micro-blogging site Twitter, the governor said that institutions after coming under the control of the federal government would be performing better and they would be made model hospitals in the province. He announced that board of governors of these hospitals would be announced soon. The apex court had given 90 days to the provincial and federal governments to ensure smooth transition of the hospitals. The deadline had ended in April.

The federal cabinet at a session recently approved transfer of administrative control of these hospitals to the Centre. The Sindh government had filed a review petition in the SC, seeking reversal of the court’s earlier verdict and permission for it to run the hospitals.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said while chairing a meeting this week that the notification issued by the federal government to take over three health facilities of Sindh, JPMC, NICVD and NICH had created uncertainty therefore it must be withdrawn in the larger interest of health services being provided by these institutions.

Shah said the provincial government had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court and the federal government should have waited till the final verdict of the court but “abruptly, they issued a notification and created an uncertainty,” he said.

The chief minister directed the advocate general of Sindh to file an urgent application in the Supreme Court for hearing of the review petition.

YOUNG DOCTORS OPPOSE DECISION

The Young Doctors Association (YDA) Sindh on Saturday opposed the federal government’s decision to take back administrative control of three major hospitals of Sindh and announced that they would observe black day all over Sindh next week against this decision.

YDA Sindh Chairman Dr Muhammad Umer Sultan said in his statement the federal government through a notification took administrative control of three major hospitals of Sindh, including Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Child Health and National Institute of Cardiovascular (NICVD). He said that YDA Sindh was not in favour of this step and said the decision would lead to total collapse of these institutions.

He said the Sindh government worked hard to establish those hospitals in last 10 years and poor patients got best treatment facilities. He said the budget of those hospitals had been increased and many world class facilities were being provided by the provincial government at these health facilities.

Dr Umer Sultan said that both patients and professionals would be affected due to this federal government decision. He urged the poor patients and social circles to support the YDA in this regard.

He said that YDA believed the three major hospitals should remain under administrative control of the Sindh government. He announced that YDA Sindh would observe a black day against the decision across Sindh next week.