PIMS employees not happy about delay in SZABMU Bill passage

Islamabad: The All Employees’ Movement for Restoration of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Wednesday dismissed as ‘absolute injustice,’ the act of the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) Amendment Bill 2017 being referred to the Standing Committee, rather than being passed in the Senate session.

In an emergency meeting chaired by chairman of the PIMS Restoration Movement (PRM) Sharif Khattak and attended by all members, PRM spokesman Dr. Dr. Asfandyar Khan dubbed the move as an “absolute injustice to the employees of PIMS.”

Briefing the meeting, Dr. Asfandyar recollected the assurances given out by the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), to the effect that the SZABMU Amendment Bill would be passed in the Senate and would not be referred to the Standing Committee under any circumstances.

“The PPP has dishonoured its pledge and we would like to emphatically condemn the move. We had hoped that a party that stands for the rights of labourers, workers and the poor and downtrodden will ensure that the rights of 4,000 employees of PIMS, as well as of the thousands of patients who seek treatment in this hospital, are protected rather than being violated,” Dr Asfandyar stated.

The employees clarified that the SZABMU Amendment Bill 2017 did not envisage dissolution of the university; on the contrary, it is aimed at strengthening of the university and administratively disconnecting PIMS from SZABMU so that the interests of patients are better served and the civil service rights of PIMS employees are restored. The employees hoped that PPP will play a positive role in having the SZABMU Amendment Bill passed in the ongoing session.