LAHORE: Strong reaction on social media seems to have forced the Punjab government to take a ‘U-turn’ on naming the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, after Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

“The name of the institution remains ‘Jinnah Institute of Cardiology, Lahore’ and no change is under consideration. In the Punjab government’s annual development programme for the fiscal year 2025-26, funding has been allocated under the name Jinnah Institute of Cardiology,” Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a post on ‘X’ on Tuesday.

“As part of the efforts to provide world-class treatment for cardiac and other diseases, 14 new hospitals will be established in the Nawaz Sharif Medical District. The master plan for this project is near completion,” Ms Aurangzeb said and asked journalists to “verify the facts” before publishing any news.

The controversy stemmed from the speech of the chief minister in the Punjab Assembly and a subsequent statement by Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique.

The minister had said the Jinnah Institute of Cardiology Lahore has been renamed as ‘Maryam Nawaz Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases’.

The chief minister said on the floor of the House on Saturday last that she has decided to set up an extension of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) as both the population and heart diseases had increased in the province.

“The Maryam Nawaz Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases will be an extension of the PIC. It is in the final stage of completion,” she said and also showed the pictures of the project site in the assembly.

Following this decision, the provincial government as well as the chief minister faced backlash on social media as even ‘pro-PML-N’ analysts and journalists started questioning the logic behind this move.

PTI senior leader and former federal minister Moonis Elahi said on X: “This is too much. The institute which was established in the name of the father of the nation has been renamed after Maryam Nawaz. This is outrageous.”

PPP Punjab leader Faisal Mir said: “When small people reach big positions by accident or other means, this is what exactly happens. The name of the father of the nation is being erased so that a sitting chief minister can plaster her own name there.

Former Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said: “That’s the way to go. Jinnah who? If self-entitlement and being deaf to public opinion had another name.”

Journalist Mona Alam said: “Sorry Maryam Nawaz sahiba, but Jinnah’s name is the red line for every Pakistani.”

Khwaja Salman Rafique on Tuesday also clarified that in the official documents, there has been no change in the name of the cardiac facility in question.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2025