NA Passes Bill To Separate SZABMU, PIMS

National Assembly here on Monday passed Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) amendments bill 2017 with majority vote

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 06th Nov, 2017 ) :National Assembly here on Monday passed Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) amendments bill 2017 with majority vote.

The bill was moved by Minister of State Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry in the house. The bill was passed to administratively separate Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) and Pakistan Institute of Medical University (PIMS).

Member National Assembly Naveed Qamar opposed the bill and said, the legislation should not be made in haste. The way, the government was passing the bill it will damage democratic norms. MNA Mehmood Khan Achakzai while supporting the bill said interest of the employees should be watched.

MNA Asad Umar said, it would have been much better if the bill had been passed earlier. However, he said he will support the bill. Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and Sahibzada Tariqullah while endorsing the government bill said that future of the employees should be protected and nobody should be transferred against their will.

Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that misperceptions of the lawmakers were totally baseless and no employees will be affected after the passage of the bill.

He said previously the medical university and the hospital were administered by single person, which was hampering the working of both the hospital and the university.

Under the bill, he said, administration of the hospital and university would be separate. He dismissed the impression that the passage of the bill will affect the status of the university. He said about 18 different medical institutions will be affiliated with the university.

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), a tertiary level hospital was made part of the university in 2012 which was an anomaly. The anomaly of the act had caused great resentment among the 4000 employees of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The government passed the bill because employees of PIMS were apprehensive about putting PIMS under the administrative control of the medical university. The government accepted viewpoint of the employees that their status as civil servant would be endangered which was detrimental to their interest.