Representatives from Layyah, Kot Addu, Bhakkar, Multan, RY Khan and members of Lahore-based civil society organisations attended the one-day provincial conference, on ‘Monitoring and Achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - Weakness and Threats of the Existing Budgetary Process’, here this afternoon.
The speakers at the conference said that 99 per cent of budgetary allocations in Pakistan were gender neutral.
They said that 70 per cent of Pakistani mothers lived without gynaecological care. “Many pregnant women in rural areas are taken to hospital on bull carts, which causes unbearable pain and many deaths as well,” said one speaker.
Mustafa Nazir, director of press and publication at the University of Gujrat, said that the budget was the main indicator of the government’s order of priorities.
He said that the Punjab was the only province to plan for gender-based budgeting under the Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiatives (GRBI) programme, but the programme was never put into operation.
He said the government should also release a gender-based budget statement.
Dr Qais Aslam, an economics professor at the University of Central Punjab, said that Pakistan’s health policy should be based on some form of a basic prevention programme, clean drinking water for all, subsidised basic medicines, and insurance for the poor and patients with chronic diseases and maternity related issues. He said the development of water and energy resources and education were other key challenges for the future.
Asad Imran, manager for sustainable development at WWF Pakistan, discussed natural resource management in agriculture. He criticised the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides that he said are polluting our food chain, water and air.
He said 98 percent of the country’s total available fresh water resources were dedicated to agriculture.
Other speakers said that the budget was central to the development process and should be more than just a simple documentation of resources, collection and allocation.
They expressed concern that the budget allocations by the provinces for health and population would be less than when this subject was in federal control.
The former federal ministry was at least partially funded by international donors.
Punjab government spokesman Pervez Rasheed told The Express Tribune that this fear was misplaced, since when health and population welfare were put under provincial control, their budgets were also given to the provinces. He hoped that international donors would continue funding health and population welfare programmes.
Punjab Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kaira said the government was making a three-year plan of short and medium-term measures to boost health and education.
The conference was also addressed by the Shamshad Qureshi, Irfan Mufti and AusAID project coordinator Azhar Lashari.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2011.
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