SZABMU protests: Sans doctors, hospital staffers protest against proposed university

Express concerns about loss of government service status, claim hospital will be privatised.

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Government Health Employees Association (FGHEA) members on Monday staged protests at three public hospitals against the “privatisation” of government hospitals under the banner of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University.

Protesters were of the view that if the university bill is passed, all federal public hospitals will become autonomous, thus depriving poor patients of free healthcare services and depriving employees of their rights as government employees.

FGHEA members at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) started marching from the hospital at around 2:30 pm and joined Polyclinic and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) employees in front of the National Press Club. However, senior doctors did not show up for the protest.

Almost all roads leading to the National Press Club were blocked due to the march and protest demonstration, causing massive traffic jams.

Protesters carrying placards and banners were chanting slogans against the Pims executive director and the federal government demanding that they maintain the status quo.

One employee was carrying a placard inscribed with, ‘Jate jate dil na toro, Pims ka picha choro’ (Don’t break our hearts as you leave, just let Pims be).



Meanwhile, senior doctors at Pims and Polyclinic said, “There is a fear that all federal hospitals will become autonomous after the passage of the bill. It is because the university is supposed to generate its own funds through fees submitted by students, as announced by Capital Administration and Development Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal.”

However, things will become clearer when new rules and regulations for the employees are prepared after the passage of the bill, the doctors said.

Pims ED Prof Riaz Ahmad Warraich quashed the rumors, saying no federal hospital will be made autonomous.

“There is a certain group running campaigns against the draft bill for the university, which is currently with a senate standing committee and will be tabled before the National Assembly this week.”

He said Polyclinic and NIRM have nothing to do with the university.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2013.