Staff Reporter The federal government has decided against taking administrative control of three major hospitals in Sindh namely Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH). The decision was taken during the weekly federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday. In a statement issued on Wednesday, provincial Minister of Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Pechuho expressed the Sindh government’s gratitude on the Centre’s decision “Sindh has always worked towards serving its people and will keep doing so,” she said. “These three hospitals are one of our biggest accomplishments and we have invested billions of rupees in uplifting and upgrading these three hospitals and we hope we will be able to make these facilities better than they are at the moment.” The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had taken over the major hospitals last year, escalating tensions with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh. In his last visit to the provincial capital, PM Imran held talks with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah over issues including the inspector general of police and the administrative control of the hospitals. Murad claimed that the premier told him the Centre wouldn’t be able to run the hospitals and had given the go-ahead to Sindh government to run JPMC, NICVD and NICH. Meanwhile, unhappy at being passed around, JPMC doctors handed the authorities an ultimatum early February to either form a committee to resolve their issues or face a strike. “The doctors of JPMC have been in trouble since the 18th Amendment. We were handed over to the Sindh government and now we are being put under the federal government,” said Dr Iqbal Afridi. He pointed out that the doctors, who were the main stakeholders, had not been consulted during the process, adding that it affected patients and medical students as well.
