‘Legal process needed before Centre takes over hospitals’

Sindh minister says federal govt will have to reimburse Sindh's spending on JPMC, NICVD, NICH

KARACHI: Sindh Health and Population Welfare Minister Dr Azra Fazl Pechuho said on Monday that the federal government would have to complete the necessary legal procedure before taking over the management of three major government hospitals in Karachi, as per the judicial orders.

In a video statement, the minister insisted that the Centre could not just take over the management of these government institutions because matters had to be settled on both the provincial and the federal sides.

Pechuho claimed that Rs1.9 billion was spent on the three hospitals in question - Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Health - and the nursing college before the 18th Amendment, while their budget was increased by Rs10.5 billion after their transfer to the province.

"The provincial governments should be the authorities for health services after the amendment and a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court in this regard," she stated, expressing the hope that the Centre would increase these institutions' budgets after the transfer of authority.

According to Pechuho, control of the hospitals would be handed to the Centre in line with judicial orders, but the federal government would have to reimburse the provincial government's expenditure on them.

She further stated that legislation had been done for the Sindh Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (SICVD), keeping in mind the Centre's desire to taking back the NICVD.

Moreover, she said, SICVD units were increased in other districts of the province, including Sukkur, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sehwan, Tando Muhammad Khan, and Hyderabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2020.