Karachi:Dr Seemin Jamali, Incharge of the Emergency Department at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) said that they will continue to be a part of the federal government as they have nothing to do with any provincial government. She said this on Thursday, while speaking to The News.

For the past few days, senior doctors at JPMC are protesting against the recently proposed amendment in the constitution, which will put JPMC under the supervision of the provincial government. “For eight years JPMC has been a part of federal government then why is there a sudden change now? The hospital bears a name Jinnah in it, which in itself is a symbol of federation,” said Dr Jamali.

Recently, the all-party Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms, which is headed by Senator Raza Rabbani, has suggested amendments to a number of articles of the constitution. Through these amendments, the provinces will have more administrative, financial and political autonomy, which automatically puts all the institutions under the provincial government including hospitals.

If the amendment is passed in the assembly, then not just the JPMC, but the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) as well as, the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), will also come under the supervision of the provincial government.

The doctors at the JPMC, NICH and NICVD are against this move and want their hospitals to be affiliated with the federation. Though talks are still on and the all-party committee has said that they will finalise the draft and if any institution has any reservation regarding the proposal, their viewpoint will be heard.

Another problem being faced by the administration at the JPMC is that the Sindh Medical College, while in its effort to upgrade the college to the university level, wants to be a part of the JPMC to combine their workforce. “They (SMC) should do it separately, as JPMC has its own set of problems at the moment,” said Dr Jamali.
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