Centre giving mixed messages over hospitals’ takeover: Minister

Staff Reporter
The Sindh Health Department says it is not sure whether the federal government is serious about taking administrative control of three of the province’s major public hospitals. “They are giving us mixed messages,” said Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho in a press conference.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has also spoken on the matter earlier. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan is not interested in taking over these hospitals. Their finance department claims they don’t have the money to run these hospitals, said the health minister.
“We don’t know if they’re serious or if it’s a political move to show the centre’s control,” Dr Pechuho said. “Provinces can run their own hospitals better. Trying to coordinate service delivery, systems and legal issues sitting in Islamabad will be very difficult.”
The Sindh government has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court, she announced. If by March, the centre doesn’t announce funds for the hospitals in their budget, we’ll know they aren’t interested and Sindh will have its say, stated the minister.A notification in January said three of Sindh’s public hospitals, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and National Institute of Child Health, will be taken over by the centre as per the Supreme Court’s orders.
In February, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination issued a notification instructing the Sindh health secretary to transfer the record files of the hospitals so the centre could assume charge.
The centre had taken over these hospitals last year in January after a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court. However, the hospitals were returned to the Sindh government after a few months due to financial issues.
After the 18th amendment, health and service delivery were given to the provinces, argued the Sindh health minister: The federal government isn’t talking to us about this. They come to hospitals, do photo ops and then leave. They need to give us a budget and operational plan.