Fact-check: Claim of naming Institute of Cardiology after Maryam Nawaz debunked as false
Three government officials, privy to the information, and two ministers in Punjab have refuted the claims
Updated Saturday Jun 01 2024
A notification circulating on social media and WhatsApp alleges that the chief minister of Punjab intends to name an under-construction Institute of Cardiology at Jinnah Hospital in Lahore after herself.
The claim is false.
Claim
The purported notification, dated May 29, issued by Punjab's specialised healthcare and medical education department, claims that the board of management at Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital Lahore has decided to name the under-construction Institute of Cardiology as the "Maryam Nawaz Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (MNICVD) Lahore."
Similar claims were also shared here, here and here.
Fact
Three government officials, privy to the information, and two ministers in Punjab have refuted the claims.
The purported notification is signed by Fatima Noureen, the senior planning officer at the Punjab government’s specialised healthcare and medical education department. Speaking to Geo Fact Check Noureen denied that any such notification was issued by the department nor was the proposal under consideration.
Dr Yahya Sultan, the medical superintendent at Jinnah Hospital Lahore, also denied any knowledge of such a decision or the issuance of any related government notification.
Ali Jan Khan, secretary for the specialised healthcare and medical education department, told Geo Fact Check that naming a public hospital requires approval from the Punjab cabinet. “No administrative department is competent to issue such a notification,” he said over the phone, “And no [such] summary was sent to the cabinet from our department.”
Additionally, Geo Fact Check could not find the notification on the website of the specialised healthcare and medical education department.
Secretary Ali Jan Khan also said that as per a new format, notifications issued by his department tend to carry a QR code as well, while the notification circulating online does not.
Punjab's minister for specialised healthcare and medical education, Khawaja Salman Rafique, along with Azma Zahid Bokhari, Punjab's information minister, also dismissed the notification as "fake".
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