In spite of chilly and rainy weather in the capital, a large number of employees of three hospitals on Wednesday staged a protest against the proposed renaming of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute (SZABMU).
They raised slogans against the proposed merger of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Quaid-e-Azam Medical Collage (QAMC) into one institute which would be renamed Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU).
The bill merging the two institutions was passed in the national assembly and after its approval from the Senate, the government would rename PIMS.
Holding placards, dozens of employees of PIMS, Polyclinic Hospital and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM) gathered in front of National Press Club and protested against the government’s recent move to rename PIMS.
If the bill is also passed in Senate, then SZABMU will have the power to confer certificates, diplomas, degrees, and other academic distinctions. The faculty of medicine at Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) will be transferred to SZABMU.
Moreover, all the medical colleges and health institutions located in the Islamabad Capital Territory will be affiliated with SZABMU.
The protesting employees feared that they would be deprived of their civil servant rights and they would lose the benefits associated with being government employees, including cheap healthcare facilities. In the light of the fears, they demanded that the proposed bill be withdrawn.
Joint Action Committee Chairman Manzar Abbas Naqvi said that the bill had been taken to the national assembly without the consent of all stakeholders. He said that government had every right to legislate the bill, but they must do so by taking into account all stakeholders. He further said that such bills should not be passed in haste.
