KARACHI: The Sindh government on Monday decided to approach the federal government to keep the administrative control of three major hospitals of Karachi under the provincial set-up so that free-of-cost health services to the people of the province could be continued.

This decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah here at CM House, about the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH).

The meeting was attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Advocate General Salman Talibuddin, Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi, Law Secretary Dr Mansoor Rizvi, JPMC executive director Dr Seemin Jamali, NICH director Prof Syed Jamal Raza and Prof Ameen Khawaja of the NICVD.

The chief minister was told that the federal government had decided to run the three hospitals under their board of governors.

The CM is told the federal govt wanted to run the three hospitals under their BoGs

At this, the chief minister said that the federal government’s decision was contrary to the judgement of the Supreme Court.

Mr Shah said that the provincial government had worked day and night to make the hospitals amongst the best facilities in the country.

“We have not only enhanced their budget but launched new initiatives such as CyberKnife in JPMC, established satellite centres of NICVD and upgraded NICH,” he said.

The CM added that at this stage shifting of the administrative control of these hospitals from the provincial government to the federal government would badly affect their service delivery.

The chief minister directed the health department to write a letter to the federal government and apprise them of the situation.

“I will also write a letter to the prime minister with a request to sign a memorandum of understanding with the provincial government to run these three hospitals,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2021