Employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), who have been protesting on and off for years, may finally succeed if a bill for separating the hospital from the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University is passed by the ongoing session of the National Assembly.

Employees say that have started meeting with political parties to ensure that the bill passes through the lower house and then the upper house because that is the only way their status as civil servants can be restored.

“We met with leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, who belongs to PPP, on Nov 1 and he assured us his party will support the bill in both houses. On Nov 2, we had a meeting with PML-N’s Murtaza Javed Abbasi, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, to seek his party’s support. In the next few days, we will meet with members of other political parties to ensure the bill passes without any hurdles. The university will not be affected due to the legislation,” spokesperson of the Pims Employees Association, Dr Asfandyar Khan told Dawn.

He said minutes of the federal cabinet meeting were sent to the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) on Nov 1 and the next day, CADD sent the bill suggesting the separation of the hospital and university to the Parliamentary Affairs Division.

The bill will now be referred to the National Assembly and as soon as it gets approved there, it will be sent to the Senate for voting. After it passes through the upper house, the bill will be sent to the president to sign, Dr Khan explained.

Talking to Dawn, Pims Vice Chancellor Dr Javed Akram said he hopes the bill is passed during the current session.

“It is a government bill so it should pass without any hurdles. Last year in October, the university syndicate passed a resolution to separate the hospital from the university in just one day and in November the same year, the then prime minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif, also principally approved the proposal which could not be implemented in the year since,” he said.

“There should be no uncertainty when it comes to issues like these as it raises doubts about the administration and leads to unrest among employees. I suggest that employees should not observe strikes because tens of thousands of patients suffer. As doctors, it is our responsibility to provide uninterrupted service to patients,” he added.

According to documents sent to the National Assembly Secretariat, dated Nov 1 and available with Dawn, CADD Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry has said he intends to move the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2017 for the segregation of Pims from the university.

It is mentioned in the document that the federal cabinet had already approved the bill in October and that it is therefore suggested that the bill be passed.

During the last PPP government, parliament passed the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Islamabad Bill, 2013, amid criticism by the opposition then.

The bill was moved by the then minister for CADD Nazar Mohammad Gondal. Under the bill, the hospital was upgraded to a medical university and was empowered to confer degrees, diploma certificates and other academic distinctions.

Once a welfare hospital, Pims became affiliated with the university and the status of its employees, who were civil servants, was gradually changed and they were offered to become employees of the university. Quotas for their children in appointments and various courses were withdrawn.

The Federal Government Housing Foundation does not give the employees plots as they are no longer considered government servants. Employees of the hospital have held a number of protests and token strikes and though they were given assurances time and again, their issues were never addressed.

Their recent protest stretched for an unprecedented amount of time as employees continued to strike for almost three weeks. The strike started on Oct 2 and continued till the last week of October when the federal cabinet approved the bill for the separation of the hospital and university. Some 10,000 patients were turned away every day, some 5,000 lab tests could not be conducted and 200 operations were postponed every day.

Employees have said they will resume the strike if the bill is not passed during the current National Assembly session. They employees have also started a protest camp in the hospital where they observe a strike from 8am to 11am after which medical services are resumed.

One patient lost his life because he was refused treatment during the strike. A resident of Shakrial, 28-year-old Omer Aftab was brought in to the hospital on Oct 16 and though he was issued a registration slip, he was told by a doctor to return after the strike ended, according to a relative of the victim, Mohammad Tasneem.

When he went home, Omer’s condition worsened and he was brought back to the hospital but he could not survive. His relatives say Omer was refused treatment again while the hospital staff claim he was dead when he was brought in and that he had a number of diseases including HIV and hepatitis.

A committee headed by professor of anaesthesia Iqbal Memon was established to inquire into the matter.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2017