PIMS staff want hospital’s previous status restored

Threaten protests in Ramazan unless govt moves on amending relevant bill

ISLAMABAD: Employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences [PIMS] have urged the prime minister and the Capital Administration and Development Division [CADD] to expedite an amendment bill which would restore the independent status of the hospital.

Should the government fail to pass the bill from the parliament, as per the recommendations of the apex court and the federal ombudsman, the employees warned of protests?



PIMS, through an act of parliament, had been merged into a medical university in 2013 but a vast majority of the hospital’s staff had refused to accept the decision. Following a series of protests, a private member bill authored by MNA Maj [retd] Tahir Iqbal was presented in the National Assembly.

But with the bill facing delays, employees of the hospital staged another protest in August 2016 during which healthcare facilities at outpatient departments were brought to a halt for three days.

The strike ended after State Minister for CADD Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry assured hospital staff that the amendment bill would sail through the parliament within two weeks.



However, the Pims’ employees agreed that if nothing substantial happens, they would resume their strikes by boycotting their duties with the advent of Ramazan.

With the delays causing unrest among employees once again, they met on Saturday to deliberate upon the issue and chalk out a future plan of action. They noted that promises made to them by the government remain unfulfilled.

Moreover, the 4,000 employees of PIMS feared that they would not receive any relief in the upcoming budget such as raises since the hospital had been declared as an autonomous university.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2017.