Is PIMS, the occupied Kashmir of SZABMU, in for disappointment?

Islamabad

The employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), who had called off their strike Tuesday on credible assurance that their demand for separation of PIMS from the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) would be addressed in the proposed legislation to be tabled in the August 26 meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Cabinet, might be in for a huge disappointment. Grapevine has it that MNA Major (r) Tahir Iqbal, who had filed the private member bill for amendment of the SZABMU Islamabad Act, is under extreme pressure to withdraw the bill during the upcoming meeting.

According to sources, the SZABMU administration is proactively lobbying to somehow sabotage the passage of the SZABMU (Amendment) Bill 2014 by the Standing Committee and to forestall its subsequent introduction in the National Assembly. Ironically, it is becoming increasingly evident that those who pose as strongest advocates of the separation of PIMS from SZABMU are actually hatching a conspiracy both against the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), whose Minister of State Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry personally intervened with a formula to appease the protesters, as well as against the PIMS Restoration Movement (PRM), which called off its strike till August 26, on the condition that the bill would be passed by the Standing Committee and presented during the forthcoming session of the National Assembly.

Somebody somewhere is playing a double game, and the faces of these personalities are too obvious to invoke any kind of doubt. It is learnt that back in 2014, the Prime Minister of Pakistan had issued verbal instructions to the effect that private member bills should be discouraged, rather than supported. Those in favour of the status quo are determined to galvanise all possible support from the PM’s Secretariat to prevent separation of PIMS from SZABMU on the basis of this very instruction.

Talking to this scribe on condition of anonymity, a high official in the Ministry of CADD revealed that each time his ministry moves a summary for separation of PIMS from SZABMU, the administration of the medical university instantly approaches the PM’s Office and obstructs all avenues for materialization of any such plan. At the end of the day, the Ministry of CADD finds itself in a catch-22 situation, where it is doomed if it turns a deaf ear to the woes of patients who suffer each time there is a strike at PIMS, and doomed if he persuades the protesters to call off their strike against credible assurances by none other than the minister of state himself.

When the attention of PRM’s chairman Dr. Asfandyar Khan was drawn towards the possibility of the bill being withdrawn during the August 26 meeting, he said, “The minister of state for CADD has publicly assured us that he will get the amendment bill passed by the Standing Committee on August 26. We trust Dr. Tariq Fazal and are grateful to him for this timely intervention. We are also thankful to Major (r) Tahir Iqbal for his commitment to table and follow-up the amendment bill in the best interest of poor patients and employees of PIMS. And we now look up to the PM for a sympathetic consideration of our concern. While he was hopeful that the bill would be passed, as assured, he also announced that “any tactic used to sabotage the movement will leave PRM will no choice but to withdraw all services (including emergency services) in all hospitals of the federal capital territory on August 26.

Maj (r) Tahir Iqbal also dismissed rumours about his intention to withdraw the bill under pressure during the August 26 meeting of the Standing Committee. “There is no pressure on me from any quarter. I will certainly not withdraw the bill,” he assured when asked.

Interestingly, the Amendment Bill, a copy of which is available with ‘The News,’ also proposes the appointment of a ‘pro-chancellor’ on the recommendations of the government. Other than NUST, which has the Chief of Army Staff as the pro-chancellor, there is no precedent of a pro-chancellor being appointed in a university. As per norm, the President of Pakistan is the chancellor of more than 35 universities; next come the Vice Chancellor and the pro-vice chancellor. According to credible sources, this post was deliberately created in SZABMU to accommodate the blue-eyed personalities that have steered PIMS to the path of annihilation. This is another grey area that the PM needs to look into.

While PRM is hoping that the SZABMU (Amendment) Bill 2014 will eventually be tabled in the National Assembly, sources in the Ministry of CADD believe it would be expedient for PIMS employees not to bank on passage of the amendment alone as every tactic will be employed and every contact in the PM House will be tapped to abort the separation of PIMS from SZABMU.

Proposing an alternative, a high official in the Ministry of CADD emphasized the need to question why meetings of the Senate of SZABMU, which are supposed to be convened twice a year, are not being called. The Senate has met only once since the establishment of SZABMU in 2013. “The employees of PIMS need to exert pressure for holding of the Senate meeting, which is the right forum to mobilise support in favour of separation of PIMS from SZABMU. If the Senate so decides, the Ministry of CADD will be in a position to immediately get the resolution vetted by the Ministry of Law and send it to the Cabinet for approval,” he stated. Sources believe that the Senate meetings are deliberately being delayed to stall matters including issues pertaining to employees’ rules and processes.

August 26 is not far. While PRM has explicitly spelled out its future course of action in the wake of any unforeseen eventuality, the Ministry of CADD also needs to devise a face-saving formula for there will be a big question mark on its credibility, should someone somewhere succeed in perpetuating the reign of destruction on PIMS, which is currently akin to being the occupied Kashmir of SZABMU.