Devolution: 3 federally run hospitals turned over to Sindh

150 JPMC contract doctors, nurses fired in the first phase.

KARACHI:

Three of Karachi’s key hospitals received the dreaded news on Monday that they are finally being handed over to the Sindh government. They no longer come under the control of the federal government.

This decision was taken to implement the 18th Amendment changes that sought to give the provinces more control. However, the hospitals have been against the handover from the start.

These institutions are Jinnah hospital, the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (NICVD) and the National Institute of Child Health (NICH). They are all located on the same road and have a total of 3,500 staffers, who are running scared for their jobs.

The notification announcing the change was released on Monday. The new Sindh health secretary, Rizwan Ahmed, met the administrations of the three hospitals on Monday and assured them that no one would be mistreated.

For its part, however, Jinnah hospital has maintained that the decision should not have been made as the matter is in court. To make matters worse, the hospitals are running short on medicines as they have yet to get their budgets for the first quarter.

Jinnah hospital has 2,500 staffers, NICVD 700 and NICH 650.

JPMC sackings

Jinnah hospital sacked on Monday 150 staffers, including doctors, paramedics and nurses, who were on contract at the neurosurgery department among others. This is the first of what is expected to be a slew of uncomfortable decisions since the federally run hospital was handed over to the Sindh health department two days ago.

Their three-year contracts had ended on June 30. As the staff knew this was around the corner, they had first petitioned the federal health ministry and now the matter is in provincial hands.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a member of Jinnah hospital’s administration, who was privy to the matter, said that the staff was previously under the federal government but now the hospital does not have enough resources to pay for their services.

“Since the removal of the contract employees there has not been enough human resource to run the neurological institute,” said Professor Sattar Hashim, who runs the department.

“The government has spent a great amount of money on the building. The central government was supposed to give the contract employees permanent jobs but it didn’t. I don’t know what the future of the institute will be now. I think they all should be reinstated.”

In another twist to the tale, hospital sources told PPI on Monday that the staff was sacked because the federal health ministry did not give Jinnah hospital money for their salaries. The retrenched staff includes employees working at different posts from grades 1 to 18.

Hashim said that sacking employees on such short notice has created immense problems. There are three neurosurgery wards that tend to more than 140 patients. But since the staff has been let go, these wards as well as the operation theatres and the ICU have been facing problems. He said the ward needs more staff but instead of recruiting more people, trained and experienced staff were being sent home.

He said a new building for the neurosurgery department with 70 beds was empty despite the fact that it was constructed two years ago. The building has no electricity and without that its elevators would not work. More than Rs210 million was spent on the building but it is not being used.

Hashmi said the administration and senior doctors of Jinnah hospital are facing huge problems since JPMC has been transferred from the federal government to the Sindh health department.

There were only two consultants in the neurosurgery department. One of them has been told to leave. “All the employees were surprised and disturbed when we got the letter on Monday,” said the doctor. “Considering the department needs 130 people at least, I don’t know how they will run it now.”

with additional input from ppi

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2011.