Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Information & Archives, Law and Anti-Corruption Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Saturday, while welcoming the decision of the federal cabinet apropos handing over the administrative control of three major hospitals in Sindh back to the provincial government, said that it was not just the acknowledgment of the stance of Pakistan People’s Party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari but also the victory of the people of Sindh and the poor patients from across the country.
In a statement, Murtaza Wahab once again advised the federal government to think over before taking any decision. The Adviser said that the Sindh government had invested billions of rupees in profound improvements at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and National Institute of Child Heath (NICH) Karachi after the hospitals were handed over to provincial government under 18th amendment.
He said that the Sindh government had mentioned earlier that the federal government didn’t have the capacity to run these hospitals. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the expansion of NICVD to several other cities of the province had excelled the performance of the Sindh government, which paid for expensive cardiac treatments of patients from all over Pakistan. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the Sindh government was running the affairs of these hospitals quiet efficiently but owing to its irresponsible and arrogant nature the Niazi’s regime intruded just for the sake of cheap publicity.
The Adviser said that the time has proved that the arrogant attitude shown by the federal government for taking over these main health facilities was depraved. He pointed out that the Sindh government was spending more than 16 billion on NICVD, JPMC and NICH annually to ensure free-of-cost treatments for patients from all over Pakistan. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the Sindh government had been providing state-of-the-art health facilities to people from every corner of the country without any charges. The Adviser said that the constant tall claims of the federal government would finally fall curtain on selected PTI’s regime.
He felicitated the people of Sindh for not allowing anyone to usurp the hard-earned assets of health facilities of the province. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the resistance of the Sindh government at every available forum finally paid off by forcing the federal government to withdraw the notification regarding the administrative control of the key health facilities of Sindh.
The Adviser said that the decision was taken in haste that only increased the difficulties of the people of Sindh as well as of other provinces. He said that after the devolution of power, the Sindh government had spent billions of rupees to upgrade these hospitals, transforming them into state-of-the-art welfare health facilities where people from entire Sindh as well as from other provinces of the country were visiting to seek healthcare services.
Barrister Murtaza Wahab pointed out that even Justice Maqbool Baqar, who was on the bench that was hearing the hospitals’ case wrote a dissenting note. The Judge wrote that throughout the country’s legislative history public health remained exclusively with the provinces, the Adviser added. He said that this interpretation has specially been strengthened after the passage of the 18th amendment. He said that the principle of devolution needed to be given respect in letter and spirit. Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that people wanted that the selected government of PTI after relinquishing the control of three key health facilities of Sindh should relinquish the charge of federal government as well.
