ISLAMABAD, March 5: The name of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) will not be changed even after the establishment of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University.

“Pims’ name will not be changed nor we have decided to change the name of the hospital,” Prof Amjad Chaudhry, the project director of the university, told Dawn on Tuesday.

The Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad Bill 2013 was passed by the National Assembly on February 21.

It may be mentioned that employees of the hospital had raised concern over the establishment of the university and changing of the hospital’s name.

Prof Chaudhry added: “The employees will be having the right to stay as civil servants and work with the hospital or they can join the university.”

He said they were not changing the grades of the officials nor were forcing them to opt for the university jobs.

He said the employees would be given six months to decide whether they wanted to opt for the university assignment or stay with the hospital as federal government servants.

It is pertinent to mention that Quaid-i-Azam Postgraduate College of Pims was registered with Quaid-i-Azam University.

“Our university will be a degree-awarding institution like Federal Medical and Dental College, Health Services Academy and other medical institutions which are affiliated with QAU and will be affiliated with SZABMU because it will be the only medical university in Islamabad,” added Prof Chaudhry.