Employees to close OPD today to protest proposed Pims privatisation.

ISLAMABAD -- While Covid-19 cases are on the rise in the capital and across the country again, the employees of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) have decided to close all outpatient departments (OPDs) and wards from Tuesday (today).

They also threatened to shut down operation theatres if the government ignored their demands and tried to privatise the hospital.

On Monday, the employees held a protest, saying the government's move to put Pims under the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) would not be tolerated.

Young Consultants Association Chairman Dr Asfandyar Khan told Dawn that during the tenure of Pakistan People's Party (2013-2018), Pims was put under the SZABMU but the employees did not accept the legislation and protested against the move.

'In 2018, during the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), a legislation was made to separate the hospital from the university. However, the National Assembly recently not only repealed the controversial Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act passed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government but also repealed the Act of 2018,' he said.

In November 2020, President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the MTI ordinance under which Pims was to be run through a board of governors (BoG). However, on June 8, the MTI Act was repealed by the National Assembly.

Dr Khan said due to the...