Home »General News » Pakistan » Finality of four hospitals determination: government likely to move SC for early fixation of review pleas
The federal government is likely to approach Supreme Court (SC) for early fixation of review applications filed by Sindh and Punjab to determine finality of four hospitals, official sources told Business Recorder.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan in its decision of January 17, 2019 declared the transfer of the following institutions/departments to the provincial governments as unconstitutional and without lawful authority: (i) Sheikh Zayed Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore;(ii) Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre, Karachi (JPMC) ;(iii) National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi, (NICVD) and ;(iv) National Institute of Child Health, Karachi (NICH).

Furthermore, it was directed by the Supreme Court that within 90 days of the said judgment, federal and provincial governments will complete necessary steps relating to return of the institutions from respective provincial governments to the federation and restore them to their original status.

In this context, the Federal Cabinet in its meeting held on May 28, 2019 considered a summary on the subject dated May 24, 2019 submitted by Cabinet Division and made the following decisions: (i) Minister for Law & Justice to approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan with the request for permission to divert the requisite financial resources from provinces to the federal government for effective management and smooth running of these institutions; report will be presented within two weeks; and (ii) a committee was constituted under the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, comprising secretaries of Finance Division, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination and the Law & Justice Division. The committee will negotiate with the provincial governments and workout an efficient mechanism for managements of these hospitals. The report will be submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in two weeks' time.

Accordingly, a meeting of the committee constituted by the Cabinet was held on June 2, 2019 in the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination under the chair of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health. The meeting deliberated on different approaches to implement decision of the Supreme Court dated January 17, 2019 and made the following recommendations as way forward in the case: (i) Federal Government can have a management contract with Provincial Government on mutually agreed terms encompassing all financial and governance related aspects ensuring efficiency, accountability and transparency; (ii) Ministry of NHSR&C in consultation with Law Division and Attorney General of Pakistan may file an application before the Supreme Court seeking more time, approximately six months, to fully take over these hospitals from the provinces. The notifications earlier issued of taking over these hospitals will indicate the positive intent of the Federal Government in implementing the judgment of Supreme Court; (iii) the Federal Government may also, through the office of Attorney General get the review applications filed by both the provinces, fixed for hearing to determine the finality of the case giving provinces another chance to argue their case before the Supreme Court. If the review is decided, whatever way, it will help considerably bring down the political temperature; and (iii) Ministry of NHSR&C will engage with both the provincial governments to assess the budget requirement for each of these hospitals both on current and development side.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019


the author

I did graduation from the Government Murray College Sialkot and MSc in Psychology from the University of Punjab. I am in journalism since 1990. I worked in Daily Nawa-i-Waqt as sub editor and staff reporter in Daily Pakistan and Daily Din prior to joining Daily Business Recorder. I have been associated with this newspaper since 2000 as staff reporter. Energy Sector, Commerce / Trade and Industries are key areas of my interest. I have also the credit of exposing number of scams like Rental Power Plants (RPPs), LNG, sugar import, etc.

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