Governor vows federal govt will fulfil all obligations of NICVD

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has assured the concerned quarters that the federal government, which has been entrusted once more with the task to run the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), will not be guilty of any kind of neglect in running the fiscal and administrative affairs of the institute.

The governor made this assurance on Friday as he met at Governor House a five-member NICVD delegation led by Dr Ishtiaq Rasool.

The NICVD is one of the three main public sector hospitals of the city, the administrative control of which has been given back to the federal government by the Supreme Court. The other two hospitals are the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the National Institute of Child Health (NICH).

The NICVD would be transformed into a state-of-the-art hospital, the governor said, adding that efforts would be made to provide free-of-charge health treatment facilities at the NICVD on the pattern of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Aga Khan Hospital.

The governor asserted that the federal government would continue to provide free-of-charge medical facilities to heart patients at the institute. He vowed that more modern machines and equipment would be installed at the NICVD so that patients at the institute could be provided modern health treatment and surgical facilities with the observance of utmost sanitation.

Ismail also addressed the concerns of students enrolled at the medical institutions under the Sindh government that were using the JPMC, NICVD and NICH as their teaching hospitals. As the three hospitals have been transferred to the centre, the students are worried whether they could still acquire practical medical education at the aforementioned health facilities. The governor said these students should continue their studies with full concentration as the federal government would ensure that they completed their education without any problem.

The NICVD administration should send its proposals for improvements in the institute to the Governor House, the governor told the delegation. He also directed the administration to observe extreme caution in maintaining cleanliness at the hospital as any dereliction of duty would not be tolerated in this regard.

The NICVD delegation assured the governor that they would act upon the directives of the federal government and make efforts with fullest devotion to improve the sanitation conditions at the hospital.

It may be pertinent to mention here that the Sindh government authorities, including Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, have expressed serious reservations on different occasions about the transfers of the JPMC, NICVD and NICH to the federal government. The provincial authorities have claimed that it would be utterly difficult for the federal government to fulfil financial obligations alone of the NICVD as its annual budget had been increased by billions of rupees since the time its control was devolved to the provincial government after the 18th constitutional amendment.

SICVD bill

The provincial government has also been trying to retain the control of the satellite centres and chest pain units of the NICVD established across Sindh and in various locations of Karachi during the time when the institute was under the provincial control. In this regard, the Sindh Assembly has passed a bill to form the Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (SICVD) which would comprise the NICVD’s satellite centres and chest pain units.

When the bill was first passed, the governor returned it without giving his assent after which the PA passed the bill again. However, the governor did not approve it even on the second occasion.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Sindh Information and Law Adviser Murtaza Wahab decried the decision of the governor to return the SICVD bill again that had been passed by the Sindh Assembly twice.

Wahab said the manner in which Ismail made objections to the bill again showed that he had no idea how the process of legislation was carried out. The information adviser added that only that law would be enacted in the province which was duly passed by the provincial assembly.

Killings of PTI activists

The governor on Friday took notice of the recent killings of two activists of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the city in separate incidents. The governor asked the Sindh inspector general of Police to submit a detailed investigation report of the incident. He also directed the police chief to take stern action against the criminal elements trying to sabotage peace in the city.