KARACHI, March 21: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan has signed the Jinnah Sindh Medical University Bill, 2012, passed by the provincial assembly on Feb 28, and sent it to the law department, a spokesman for Governor House told Dawn on Thursday.
“The governor signed the bill on Wednesday and it has become a law,” he said.
With the passage of the bill, the JSMU has become a legal institution, which has to cope with many challenges from the outset. The main challenge the bill has offered to the JSMU management is to ask the authorities to specify a teaching hospital for the university, the issue not mentioned in the bill.
On June 1, 2012 when the Sindh Medical College was elevated and called the Sindh Medical University through an ordinance by the governor, it had retained the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the National Institute of Child Health as its affiliated hospitals. However, the ordinance lapsed after 90 days and the provincial government submitted a bill by changing its name as the JSMU to the assembly in September last year.
Heated debates were held in the assembly, in which the members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in particular pointed out the flaw in the document, which failed to show a teaching hospital for the new university.
The MQM members also objected to the clause 6 (2) of the bill, which said the allocation of seats for admission to the university and its constituent colleges and institutes should be made by the chief minister instead of an independent syndicate.
During all those debates, the university admitted 350 students. Those students feel a real fear as they are preparing to appear in the first semester examination scheduled to begin on March 25.
“The examination for the first batch of the JSMU students will start on Monday,” Prof Tariq Rafi confirmed to Dawn on Thursday.
Amid heated debates, however, the provincial assembly passed the JSMU Bill, 2012 through a majority vote. The flaw in the document was not addressed.
The faculties and students in the university showed great concern over the fact that their university had no specified teaching hospital, a prerequisite under the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council rules to get recognition. According to officials, for any medical institution with 350 students in a single batch, a 400-bed teaching hospital is a must.
The faculties said the clinical side of the university would start in the third year and if the situation did not improve on it, students would be the only casualty of the affair.
Sources said the JSMU’s top officials were mulling writing a letter to the caretaker chief minister to seek his help. They said a positive intervention by the chief minister could lead to an executive order to end the lacunae about the absence of a teaching hospital for the JSMU.
Meanwhile, media reports say the JPMC administration is planning to set up its own medical and dental college, stirring more uncertainty in the JSMU students. Reports said the provincial secretary for health held a meeting with JPMC officials and encouraged them to set up the hospital’s own medical college.
“All these developments show that there is a conspiracy somewhere to make this university a failure. Where will the JSMU students go if the JPMC sets up its own college?” remarked a senior doctor.
Up to 80 per cent of the JSMU students are females, who are visibly perturbed over the developments. With the law and order situation in the city worsening, they are not ready to go to a teaching hospital on the fringes of the city.