ON the morning of February 11, a Sunday, six members of the board of governors of The Kidney Centre declared themselves to be shocked and grieved having read in this newspaper of record that the Centre they had founded, funded or helped to fund, built and nurtured for some fifteen years had suddenly been nationalized by an ordinance promulgated by the governor of Sindh. They knew nothing of the background, or why, or by whom, the governor had been persuaded to act.

The six were Mian Mohammad Rafi, chairman, Haamid Jaffer, vice chairman, members Marriana Karim, Mushtaq Chhapra, Iftikhar Hussain and Munawwar Habib. Two other members, Dr Syed Ali Jafar Naqvi and Dr Mir Rehman Ali Hashmi were neither surprised nor shocked for it was they who had instigated and engineered the promulgation of the nationalization ordinance without the knowledge or consent of the board.

It took the six shocked members four days to obtain a copy of Ordinance No.XI of 2001 of February 10, which effectively announced the virtual nationalization of the Centre. The purpose of the founding of the Centre was "to build, construct, erect, maintain, administer and operate a hospital together with such ancillary facilities as may be deemed appropriate for the prevention, cure and treatment of renal diseases; and, inter alia, to make provision therein for the free treatment and/or at concessional rates of poor and deserving patients."

The governor's ordinance changed the purpose "to provide for care and attendance of persons requiring medical attention relating exclusively to renal diseases." The poor have been swept away. It is silent on free treatment or treatment at concessional rates of the poor and needy suffering from any ailment. It lays down eight other functions connected with teaching, research, co-operation with government and international organizations. It specifies that the institute will take all actions which may further it as a place of education, learning, research and consultancy. It names Dr Jaffar Naqvi as chairman of a nominated predominantly ineffective governing board of non-productive government functionaries.

By February 17, two board members managed to get through to Governor Mohammadmian Soomro. He arranged for them to meet provincial health minister, Major-general Ahsan Ahmad. The minister displayed astonishment at the discovery that there existed an alive and functioning board of governors of the Kidney Centre, (one member of which is at the Centre every day), the majority of whom were unaware of the circumstances under which the nationalization ordinance was promulgated and notified. He immediately suspended the implementation of the terms of the ordinance.

Minister Ahmad was regretful and solicitous. He indicated that two doctors had conveyed the impression that there was no functioning board, and he told the two members that it would merely take the governor's signature to redress the wrong and repeal the ordinance. He asked the board to file an appeal for the repeal. Three members (Karim, Chaapra and Hussain) did so on February 21, personally delivering the appeal to the minister who then asked them to let him have a resolution stating that the board had neither resolved nor instigated the promulgation of the ordinance and did not support it. This was done on February 27.

The minister later informed them that repealing the ordinance might be embarrassing for the government, that they should seek legal advice and let him have a draft of an amending ordinance which in effect would comprehensively undo the damage done by Ordinance No.XI/01. This was done, and copies of all documentation involved in the repeal were given to Governor Soomro, who assured the board members that the required amending ordinance would soon be promulgated and the matter resolved.

On March 12, the Minister convened a full board meeting at his office. He categorically asked Dr Naqvi as to why the government of Sindh had been misled by him, to which Dr Naqvi could make no reply. Each member present was asked if he/she supported the ordinance. Five who were present (Rafi, alternate governor Nasir Jaffer, Karim, Chaapra, Hussain) said no. Naqvi and Hashmi did not utter. The meeting was concluded by the minister declaring that the matter would be placed before the governor who was then on Haj.

Meanwhile, as the government's shenanigans became known, private sector funds on which the Kidney Centre depends dried up. All that has come in since February is a trickle of what was promised prior to the government's misadventure. Representing my family and friends who had made donations upon my recommendation and guarantee that money would flow into a privately-run, well-managed organization, I asked the board to return our unspent money, of all donors to the private Centre prior to its nationalization, so that they could divert their support to another private sector institute.

The draft of the repealing ordinance was sent to the minister early in April. On his return, the governor convened a full board meeting on the 9th, at which the board requested me to be present to speak on behalf of the donors who wished to retrieve their money, money the Board was honour-bound, under the prevailing circumstances, to return. Before I went into the meeting, Shahid Feroze of PERKS, on behalf of the governor, asked me to remain silent as I was not a board member. I replied that if the governor decided to repeal the ordinance I would remain silent, otherwise I would have to speak up.

At the meeting, I duly remained silent as the governor declared that the damaging ordinance, inadvertently promulgated would be repealed. He was thanked by all present.

Dr Naqvi, secretary and member of the board, though invited, chose not to attend the meeting. He had an office at the Kidney Centre, and the day after the governor's meeting he collected the office files and left, later declaring to well-wisher Doctor Rashid Jooma that he was a man of principles and once he had turned his back he would never return.

His absence from the scene has made no difference to the functioning of the Centre which continues to be managed by the administrator in accordance with the ISO standard certification 9002.

On April 13, health minister, General Ahmad called a press conference at which he conveyed the government's decision to repeal Ordinance XI. But for reasons not disclosed, the governor did not keep to his word. The repealing ordinance was not promulgated. He asked his principal secretary, Brigadier Akhtar Zamin, to inform the Board in his own language that the government found it embarrassing to promulgate such an ordinance and that since the Centre had been built on army land the army wished the board to be enlarged and packed with government flunkies, as described in Ord XI, so that the in-fighting amongst the board members may end. The brigadier was told there was no in-fighting, no divergent opinions since Doctor Naqvi had left, and that the Centre was functioning normally and efficiently. The members were given time to consider the board's expansion and were told that in case they did not agree the land and the Centre standing thereon would be taken over by the army.

Brigadier Zamin was obviously unaware that when the army land was leased in perpetuity the original charter of the Centre provided for the quartermaster general of the army to be a member of the board. At that time the then QMG sensibly decided that he did not wish to interfere in its affairs. As far as the board is concerned, it has never had any problem with the QMG representing the army, sitting on the board, or deliberating with it.

Stalemate. On May 10, I called on provincial health minister Ahmad. No joy. Our governor, following the political pattern set by such men as PPP Commuter Qaim Ali Shah, spends most of his time flying in the governor's plane between Karachi and Islamabad. He returned late in the evening of May 10. I tried to see him on May 11, without success. However, he was good enough to telephone me that afternoon to tell me that he could not repeal the offending ordinance and had acted as he had because of pressure from General Headquarters. I reminded him that there was only one General who mattered now, General Pervez Musharraf, and that there was no such being called Headquarters. It was a mere conglomeration of barracks and buildings, old field pieces guarding its gates.

As a result of this government's stance, the privately funded efficiently operated educational and health organizations (e.g. LRBT) are worried. As a first consequence, Razak Taba's family and friends who were in the process of donating Rs.75 million to the Jinnah Hospital for the establishment of an MRI centre have withdrawn. The government on the one hand, is privatizing and on the other, nationalizing and this is bound to shake the confidence of private sector donors as well as the World Bank, that unpopular maai-baap of beggars and insolvents.

This is no time for nepotistic practices. General Musharraf is talking to Zhu, the premier of our re-emerging ally, which should remind him of that old saying of Confucius: He who fears losing face has no face to lose.