Daily Times

The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) has criticised the Sindh government for interference in the federally-controlled hospitals of Karachi which is damaging these important institutions.

In a statement issued on Saturday, President PEW Dr Murtaza Mughal said that under the 18th amendment the control of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and some other important hospitals was handed over to the provincial government in 2011 which resulted in rapid deterioration. He said that the federal government took back partial control of three major hospitals in Karachi a year ago which included JPMC, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, and National Institute of Child Health Karachi. The decision didn’t go down well with the Sindh government and it started conspiracies and started to appoint doctors on a political basis in the hospitals located in Karachi, the PEW president added.

He claimed that “dirty tactics are being employed” to get full control of JPMC which has put the future of doctors and health staff at stake. He said that there is a 20 per cent quota of Sindh in JPMC, while 80 per cent quota goes to the students of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, erstwhile Fata and Pata — but efforts are underway to allocate the whole quota to Sindh to promote the interests of a political party which is destroying the institution.