The decision comes as part of the Federal cabinet meeting where three hospitals including National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and National Institute of Child Health (NICH) will be retained by the provincial government.
It is pertinent mentioning here that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered the federal government to take over control of NICVD, JPMC, and NICH.
The Apex court had further given 90 days to both the governments to follow through a smooth transition. According to Geo News, federal health authorities made no attempts to take over the administration of the healthcare facilities.
Sindh government, on the other hand, filed a review petition in the apex court, seeking reversal of its earlier order. It asked for permission to run the hospitals, claiming they had added services to the facilities and they were running them better than the federal government.
The federal government has abstained to take control amid financial constraints as per meeting minutes of the cabinet meeting.
The ownership of NICVD, JPMC and NICH have been a matter of dispute between the federal and provincial government for quite a while now.
The three public sector hospitals previously run by the federal government had come under the control of the Sindh government following the 18th Constitutional Amendment through devolution of the health sector.
According to Geo News, the Sindh health department claims it provides Rs8.8 billion to run the NICVD while, similarly, several billion rupees are provided as recurring budget to JPMC and NICH by the provincial government.