PIMS faculty proposes amendments to MTI

GHA to hold peaceful protest outside Parliament today

By Shahina Maqbool

Islamabad: The teaching faculty of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has verbally communicated a set of proposed amendments to the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Ordinance in a recent meeting with the PM’s Special Assistant on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan.

Dr. Faisal had invited the faculty members to his office for a discussion on the legislation, which has sparked a protest that continues at PIMS for the seventh running week now, with no mutually agreeable solution to the crisis in sight thus far.

To begin with, the faculty has demanded that the word ‘corporate,’ which has been used in the document to describe the new entity of PIMS after implementation of MTI, be replaced by ‘autonomous body.’ The second demand pertains to preservation of the civil servant status of employees who are not willing to serve under MTI. In this context, the faculty has proposed that those who do not exercise the option of MTI, should remain civil servants, and for all practical purposes should be considered and treated as employees of the Ministry of National Health Services under the Civil Servant Act 1973, and should be notified by the ministry and posted in PIMS. Moreover, they should be entitled to all perks, privileges, and facilities of the federal government, particularly in relation to promotion, pension, gratuity, housing (within PIMS and the Ministry of Housing and Works), monetization, health facilities and other privileges declared by the federal government from time to time. The faculty has also demanded that employees who wish to retain their civil servant status should continue to be promoted according to the Civil Servant Act 1973 against vacant posts in the line of promotion, and that they should continue to draw health allowance and health risk allowance, and other financial benefits as before the enactment of the Ordinance. Other demands include the right to continue to hold the position of head or chairman of the department by virtue of their seniority and fitness. The faculty also wants one retired professor of PIMS to be included in the Board of Governors. The SAPM is stated to have assured the PIMS faculty that the Ministry of Health will consider their proposals. He did not, however, articulate how and when this will be done.

Talking to this scribe here on Sunday, a senior consultant pointed out that “There is no transition cover in the Ordinance. It will either be shot down by the Islamabad High Court on January 28 or will lapse by March 15. Either case, PIMS is losing precious time and resources till such time that this matter is resolved.” Moreover, no administrative or financial powers have been defined for MTI so far. Meanwhile, the Grand Health Alliance (GHA) had a meeting with law enforcement officers on Sunday in connection with their planned peaceful protest outside the Parliament House today (Monday). The march has been arranged on the 50th day of the GHA protest demanding the withdrawal of the presidential ordinance.