ISLAMABAD: The employees of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Sunday appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Abdul Qadir Patel to play their role in tabling a bill in the Senate to repeal the MTI Act.

Grand Health Alliance (GHA) ChairmanDr Asfandyar Khan, while talking to Dawn, said that services were suffering in the hospital due to the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act.

“The health minister had promised that he will get the bill passed from the Senate but he has not taken any step in this regard. The bill, to repeal the MTI Act, has been passed by National Assembly and now we want it should directly be passed by the Senate rather than sending it to the standing committee for discussion,” he said.

An employee, Tanveer Noshahi, said that last month employees were holding protests and had closed outpatient departments to get the MTI Act repealed.

“However, we suspended our protest after getting assurance from the health minister. Now the health minister should honour his announcement. We have also called a meeting of GHA on Monday (today) to announce our future strategy,” he said.

In November 2020, President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the MTI Ordinance suggesting that the hospital will be run through a board of governors (BoG). According to the ordinance, the BoG will deal with all affairs of Pims.

The members of the board were appointed and notified by the ministry of NHS on the recommendation of a search and nomination council. Though the employees protested against the ordinance it sailed through the parliament.

However, the current government had announced to repeal the Act and a bill suggesting its repeal has been passed by the National Assembly and needs to be tabled in the Senate.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2022