Normalcy returns to Jinnah hospital as officials approach court

Thousands of patients were distraught by the protests at one of the busiest hospitals in the city.

KARACHI: After about a week of chaos at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), thousands of patients breathed a sigh of relief as hospital operations returned to normalcy on Wednesday.

A patient’s attendant at the hospital, Mohammad Aamir, a resident of Hyderabad, who had accompanied his brother, Mohammad Asif, to the hospital for treatment told The Express Tribune that, “It was a sensible decision from both sides to withdraw their protests - such matters should be decided in the court of law.” He added that, because of the protests, patients and their attendants, especially those who had come in from rural Sindh, had to spend the last four days on the street outside the hospital building as there were no doctors to help them.

“They have finally come to their senses and we can breathe a sigh of relief. I hope they don’t resume the protests for it is the patients who eventually suffer,” he said.



The recently sacked deputy executive director, Dr Seemin Jamali, told The Express Tribune that she and Dr Ahsan were not part of the doctors’ protests. “Their protest drive was for the sake of justice and not in favour of any individual. They want the government to revoke the devolution of this federal institution,” she asserted.

Dr Jamali added that appeals against their sackings were accepted by the Sindh High Court earlier this week. She insisted that they would keep serving patients and wanted the hospital to remain functional despite the difficulties being faced by senior doctors.

The week-long unrest at the JPMC, sparked by differences between its administration and the doctors’ association over control of the entity, caused considerable distress to the thousands of patients from Karachi, as well as those who had travelled to the city from rural Sindh, as they suffered because of the strikes and boycotts.

The JPMC doctors’ association had levelled allegations against Dr Tasneem Ahsan and Dr Seemin Jamali that they were creating difficulties for doctors in getting their salaries, promotions and causing disruption in the running of different departments at the hospital. These charges, were, however, denied by Dr Ahsan and Dr Jamali.



The three-day strike by the doctors’ association against the two administration officials was called off when the Sindh government announced to sack the two officials on June 6. The reasons for the sacking have yet to be disclosed.

In the meantime, Sindh government appointed JPMC orthopaedic department professor, Prof. Anis Bhatti, as the institution’s deputy director on Sunday night.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2013.