Separation of PIMS from SZABMU

Sub-committee formed for revision of amendment bill

Islamabad

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Cabinet Secretariat on Friday constituted a four-member sub-committee that will carry out a clause-by-clause technical review of the SZABMU (Amendment) Bill 2014 within a two-week deadline, and to submit its report in the next meeting of the Committee. The idea is to cleanse the Bill of all omissions before the case for separation of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) from the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Butto Medical University (SZABMU) is eventually tabled in the National Assembly's forthcoming session.

In addition to several other agenda items, the meeting featured an exhaustive debate on the SZABMU (Amendment) Bill, which will be revised entirely to overcome existing lacunae. Prominent among the participants were Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, and Major (r) Tahir Iqbal, who had filed the private member bill for amendment of the SZABMU Islamabad Act. Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, chairman of the Standing Committee, presided over the meeting.

Many in the Ministry of CADD are dubbing Friday's development as a delaying tactic that has temporarily pacified the employees of PIMS, while awarding a win-win situation for SZABMU, which will employ all its might to have the Bill sabotaged at the level of the Prime Minister's office. The leadership of the PIMS Restoration Movement (PRM), however, believes otherwise; PRM maintains that the forceful endorsement of the Bill during the committee meeting was evidence of the government's seriousness to separate PIMS from SZABMU.

Addressing the meeting, Murtaza Javed Abbasi recollected that the Bill evoked a strong reaction when it was first presented during PPP's tenure, with objections and protests being raised within and outside the Assembly. "It defies all logic as to why now, when our own government is in power, the Bill has not been passed despite a three-year lapse," he regretted. The deputy speaker also questioned why the administrator of Polyclinic, who worked in all earnest, was removed from the post even though he took no time to cleanse the hospital of the rot that had accumulated over the last 25 years.

Dr. Tariq Fazal highlighted the deteriorating state of patient care and service delivery at PIMS, largely because of its autonomous status. "I visited four wards of the hospital during one of my visits, and not a single toilet in any one of these wards was functional," he pointed out, terming the SZABMU Act as a key deterrent to improvement. He was of the view that the Act offers a plausible excuse for the administrations of PIMS and SZABMU to shift the blame on each other while taking zero responsibility. He added that the Ministry will take absolute care of the 9,000 students of SZABMU, which includes PGs and medical students.

At this point, Tahir Iqbal reminded the minister of state that PIMS, being an autonomous organisation ever since its merger with SZABMU, does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of CADD, and as such, he does not have any legal authority to oversee the affairs of the hospital or plan any reforms aimed at its improved performance.

Agreeing to the argument, Dr. Tariq said, the Act does stand in his way if he considers reformation of PIMS. "And it is for this very reason that the government wants immediate resolution of this matter. We want to transform PIMS into a centre of excellence. Separating PIMS from SZABMU is the need of the hour," he stated.

The committee also called for strict action against those involved in favouritism and corruption in PIMS and Polyclinic. Rana Hayat went to the extent of proposing that doctors involved in corruption should be handcuffed.

Tahir Iqbal further termed the Act as a criminal piece of legislation that has allowed handing over of all moveable and immoveable property of PIMS to SZABMU, which is an autonomous corporate entity. This includes the Children's Hospital, the School and College of Nursing, and the College of Medical Technology, all of which are gifts from the people of Japan and continue to be funded by JICA. "How can these institutions, being public property, become part of a corporate body," he questioned, adding, "nowhere in the word is a teaching hospital ever upgraded to a university." He stressed that PIMS must be freed of the Act while SZABMU continues to function in its independent capacity.

Tahir also pointed out that as many as 4,000 employees of PIMS who had opted against being part of SZABMU, are facing withdrawal of all perks and privileges guaranteed to them by virtue of their civil servant status. "Moreover, poor patients are being deprived of free treatment," he concluded, urging that the Bill be passed in the best interest of PIMS employees and patients.

Indeed, one of the key reasons for the continuing downfall of PIMS is the current crisis of administrative leadership in the hospital. The hospital's administrator is a highly competent anaesthesiologist who has been withdrawn from the surgical ICU and OT at the cost of his patients, but whose struggle as an administrator is bearing no results. Similarly, the additional director, who has been withdrawn from the department of radiology, can provide best services in her own department and certainly not in the administration block.