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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Civil society voices concern over Centre’s bid to take over three Karachi hospitals

By Our Correspondent
May 31, 2019

The civil society has decided to intervene in the issue arising out of the federal government’s bid to take administrative control of Karachi’s three main hospitals, as the review petition filed by the Sindh government is still pending before the Supreme Court.

Executive Director Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (Piler) made this announcement at a joint news conference organised at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday by civil society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the Human Rights Association of Pakistan, Aurat Foundation, Edhi Foundation, National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) and Sindh Labour Solidarity Committee.

Civil society, human rights, medical and legal professions’ activists expressed their serious concern over the federal government’s decision to take the control of the three major medical facilities located in Karachi.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of National Health Services, Islamabad, in pursuance of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s orders and with the approval of the Federal Cabinet on April2, 2019, the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) have been restored to the federal government and placed under the administrative control of the Ministry of National Health Services, Islamabad.

The civil society activists apprehended that the services of all such facilities would be affected severely after the federal government’s takeover and that poor patients would be charged heavily as was being done in the past.

They said a review petition by the Sindh government was pending with the Supreme Court and any action in haste by the federal government would harm the constitutional obligations of the federal government.

They appealed to the apex court to take cognizance of the matter and start hearings of the review petition of the Sindh government as soon as possible.

All the three hospitals of Karachi, which Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Control has recently taken over from the administrative control of the Sindh government, had been performing very poorly 30 to 40 years back, when they had been under the federal government, according to Pakistan Medical Association’s Tipu Sultan.

“Neither the emergency department nor different wards were functioning properly,” he said and added when these hospitals came under the provincial government, their condition was drastically changed.

Later, under a public-private partnership these hospitals were further improved. Executive Director JPMC Dr Seemin Jamali took control of the JPMC’s emergency department and converted it into a role model emergency department.

The NICH was also not a very good hospital when it was under the federal government. Now after getting under provincial government it is the city’s biggest child health institute. “Now ventilated or non-ventilated children are given the best treatment there,” Dr Sultan said.

The most drastic improvement, he pointed out, was observed in the NICVD. When it was under the federal government, he said, cases were directed to other hospitals and the NICVD itself was corrupted. Under the provincial government, he said, this hospital started primary angioplasty for free, which was very rare in third world countries.

Ali believed that the federal government’s intervention in healthcare affairs was illegal and unconstitutional. Total beds for the patients of Karachi were only 35,000 for a population of about 20 million, according to Sultan.

About 60 percent of beds were owned by the private sector, and in order to deal with this situation, he said, they would need more hospitals. Social activist Nazim F Haji pointed out that the provincial government should also accept its responsibility. “When they get control of these hospitals back, they should form a citizens’ oversight body to make sure these hospitals function properly,” he said.

While the federal government cried over lack of funds after the 18th amendment, it was also taking over assets of provinces such as health, said the Karachi Bar Association’s acting president, Abid Feroz.

“If they don’t have funds, so they should not go for such adventures,” he said. General Secretary Home-Based Women Workers Zehra Khan said provincial autonomy was as important as civil supremacy. “We need to talk on how to stop privatisation which is fooling our people,” she said.

On a question regarding a petition filed by staffers of these hospitals to go under the administrative control of the federal government, the civil society activists were unaware. However, Ali said that they were addressing the press conference for the general public, not for the staff of any hospital.

When asked about the Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government’s performance in the health sector in the interior of Sindh, and the outbreak of AIDs and also how the PPP had remained adamant to not empower the local governments, Feroz said that two wrongs do not make a right.

Ali pointed out that an honourable judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Maqbool Baqar (who was part of the five-member bench in the above verdict), has written a dissent note in which he has clearly indicated that the subjects of public health and public hospitals fall within the legislative competence and executive authority of the provinces only.

The judge, he said, stated that Article 274 of the constitution provides that all properties and assets, which on the commencement of the constitution, vested in the federal government, shall, in case they, on the commencing day, were to be used for the “purposes” of a provincial government, shall become properties of the said provincial government.