SZABMU bill: For capital’s first public medical university, it’s all about the name

Opposition lawmakers not ready to concede another public facility to the PPP founder’s name.

ISLAMABAD: It is now officially between ‘Quaid-e-Azam’ and ‘Quaid-e-Awam’ and none of them is ready to step back. Nawaz League’s five-year long patience over naming major projects by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) after their founder’s name finally ended with ‘Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’ Medical University Bill.

They have proposed Quaid-e-Azam’s, the founder of the nation, name for the university.

“Or we will oppose it all costs in the National Assembly,” said Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (PML-N), the Leader of Opposition in the assembly. The government, on the other hand, was ready to table the report of standing committee, discussing and finalising the bill, in assembly’s session starting Monday (today).

The bill aims to upgrade the biggest existing medical facility in the capital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), to a first-ever public medical university in Islamabad. Besides getting a new name after PPP founder, popularly called Quaid-e-Awam, the university will get a double storey compound and other development projects at the cost of Rs3 billion.

However, the realisation of the project can be achieved only after an act of the parliament which will come into being after the SZABMU bill is passed by the parliament. Chances are the government will get it passed as they have the numbers. But the PML-N has made its point clear.



“The PPP government in its five-year-term has done nothing other than naming important buildings and projects after their leaders’ names,” said PML-N MNA Anusha Rehman. “If it served any purpose, only they (PPP) can tell,” she added.

The name matters, said Anusha referring to Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) where money is disbursed to poor through governemnt’s kitty not PPP’s pocket, she said. The PML-N government in Punjab did not name projects like Metro Bus after Shahbaz Sharif because these are public property, said the PML-N leader.

“The PPP construct a fresh project and names it after Zardari (President Asif Ali Zardari) we will have no objection,” said PML-N Spokesperson Mushahidullah Khan. He said he failed to understand the purpose in naming the existing airports, towns, roads, etc after leaders’ name.

The draft bill was approved by the Standing Committee of the NA on February 1. Earlier on February 4, the PPP tried to push it in the NA, but the house was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

Employees’ concerns

Meanwhile, the All-Federal Health Employees Association and the Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) have also expressed their serious reservations over the draft bill.

Manzar Abbas Naqvi, President of the Association, said, “There is a fear among employees of the association, who are serving at various positions in Pims, that if the hospital gets the university status, it will become an autonomous body and they will lose most of their rights as civil servants.”

When contacted, Executive Director Pims, Dr Riaz Warraich, said that currently there was a misconception among some of the employees of Pims about the bill. “They think that after getting the university status, Pims will become non-functional, they will lose their rights as civil servants and the hospital will not work under the Ministry of the Capital Administration and Development(CAD),” he said. Addtional reporting by Sehrish Wasif

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2013.