PIMS becomes a medical university

Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences

The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) has become a medical university as President Asif Zardari signed into law a recent Act of Parliament that granted a degree-awarding status to the PIMS and upgraded it to Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University.

The National Assembly had passed the ‘Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS) Islamabad Bill’ on February 23 and the Senate on March 8. The bill didn’t have a smooth sailing in the parliament as the opposition was opposed to its certain provisions. It was adopted by both the houses of the parliament by a majority vote. The bill, which was called an act after its approval by the parliament, required the signatures of the president for enactment, which has now come.

As stated in the bill floated by the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development, the university will consist of a chancellor, a pro-chancellor, a vice chancellor, a pro-vice chancellor and members of the Senate, the Syndicate, the Academic Council and other authorities.

“The post of the executive director of PIMS shall be upgraded to that of the vice chancellor, and all properties, rights and interests of whatever kind, used, enjoyed, possessed, owned or vested in or held in trust by or for the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (PIMS), Islamabad, and all liabilities legally subsisting against it shall stand transferred to the University.”

The first vice chancellor of the university is the incumbent PIMS executive director until the search committee finalises the appointment for four years. The vice chancellor is to appoint the university’s pro-vice chancellor from among the faculty members for three years.

The university’s chancellor is the country’s president, while the CAD minister is its pro-chancellor. Under the law, all medical colleges and health institutions whether in public or private sector operating in the Islamabad Capital Territory will be affiliated with the university, while the Quaid-i-Azam University’s faculty of medicine and its all students will transfer to the new university.