PM asks SAPM on Health to resolve issue of JPMC, NICH, NICVD: Murad

KARACHIi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Thursday said he had taken up the issue of three hospitals of Karachi, including JPMC, NICVD and NICH in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting held recently, and claimed that during the meeting, the prime minister directed his special assistant on health to resolve the matter as, according to the PM, the provincial government was running them properly.

He was talking to the media just after inaugurating the Landhi Industrial area roads. He was accompanied by provincial ministers Saeed Ghani, Ikramullah Dharejo, Nasir Shah, Adviser Murtaza Wahab, MNA Agha Rafiullah, MPAs Saleem Baloch, Yousif Baloch, Shahina Sher Ali, Salman Murad and others.

To a question, the chief minister said that he had raised two important issues in the CCI meeting held in Islamabad under Prime Minister Imran Khan on April 7. The first and foremost issue was of the three hospitals of Karachi, JPMC, NICVD and NICH.

“I told the prime minister that the provincial government was running them properly, therefore, the Sindh government should be allowed to have their control,” he said and added the prime minister also acknowledged it and said these hospitals had been taken over on the Supreme Court’s orders. “I told the prime minister that the Supreme Court in its judgment has given a way out for running the hospitals by the provincial government,” Murad Ali Shah said and added that off and on different notifications were being issued, which badly affect the performance of Karachi’s three hospitals. The CM said that the prime minister, keeping in view the smooth functioning of the hospitals, passed his directive to his Special Assistant Dr Faisal Sultan to resolve the matter at the earliest. Murad Ali Shah said that the other issue he took up at the CCI was the census. “I told the prime minister that all the four provinces have reservations on the census results, and it was agreed their five percent census blocks would be verified but that has not happened yet,” he said and added that the federal government should announce conducting the census afresh to resolve the issues.

The Sindh CM maintained that another issue he had discussed in the CCI was of the fair distribution of water for which a committee was constituted under the Attorney General of Pakistan. The report has been submitted last year but still it has not been tabled in the CCI, he said and added he requested the prime minister to direct the concerned authorities to present the report in the meeting, so that a decision could be taken accordingly.

He said that without the approval of the census, local bodies elections could not be held, therefore, the federal government would have to take some decisions accordingly. Replying to a question about Jahangir Tareen’s joining of PPP, he said it would be premature to comment on the matter. “I have seen the statement of Jahangir Tareen in the media that he wants respect in his party, which seems to be a futile exercise,” he said.

To a question, the chief minister said that commissioner Karachi was a well-reputed senior officer. “I won’t comment on the remarks the Supreme Court has made against the commissioner Karachi,” he said and added the prime minister was directing officers to expedite the approvals of new buildings so that the construction industry may flourish. “The commissioner Karachi is a federal government DMG/PAS officer of Grade BS-21 and he might have followed the instructions of the prime minister,” he said. Murad Ali Shah said that his government was facing a shortage of Grade BS-21 officers. He added that against a quota of 16 officers of BS-21, only five officers were working. Earlier, the chief minister, along with provincial ministers and office bearers of Landhi Association of Trade & Industry, unveiled the plaque of three roads constructed in the Landhi Industrial area.

These three roads include 8000 Road upto Landhi Industrial area via Future More, road from Dawood Chowrangi to Younis Textile, Landhi and road from General Tyre, Mehran Highway to Landhi Industrial Area at a cost of Rs530.579 million.

He said that he had given Rs2.5 billion to six SITES of Karachi as a grant to construct roads of their respective areas. “They have taken a long time but constructed the roads properly,” he concluded.