Agenda not followed: Bill to identify tuberculosis patients in province not passed

House passed resolution to shift Pakistan Tobacco Board to province as major tobacco growers are K-P based

PESHAWAR: The provincial assembly failed to pass K-P Tuberculosis Notification Bill, 2016 despite the fact it was on the agenda of the day.

The bill aimed to identify and register every single patient of tuberculosis in the province. Officials in the health department were not happy with the bill not being passed in the session as the speaker prorogued the session – now the bill will be presented in the next session. “We are facing problems due to this disease and we desperately need the bill to be passed today,” an official of the health department, requesting anonymity, told The Express Tribune. He added the bill cannot be issued as an ordinance since it has been introduced in the assembly.

The bill calls for development and distribution of a notification form by K-P Tuberculosis Control Programme. It has to be distributed among each and every registered medical practitioner, private clinic, hospital, community leader, incharge of jails, refugee camps and educational institutes and seminaries, who should deliver the notification forms to the district health officer, giving information needed in the form about the patient.

Resolution passed

The house passed a resolution asking the federal government to shift Pakistan Tobacco Board to the province as the major tobacco growers are K-P based.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Arbab Jahandad moved the resolution in the house, stating tobacco is the only cash crop in the province and it is grown on a large scale but its farmers face difficulties as Pakistan Tobacco Board’s central office is located in Islamabad. It stated that the house recommend the government to suggest the federal government for shifting Pakistan Tobacco Board to K-P. The resolution was unanimously adopted by the house with majority votes.

In reply, K-P Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser directed the departments concerned to immediately fix the issues of the salaries of  adhoc leacturers of Fata and Workers Welfare Board employees in the province.

Qaiser took notice of the issue and gave a ruling over it when lawmaker Amna Sardar raised it in the house and sought the government’s response over it. According to Sardar, the federal government has sought a rationalisation report from the K-P government in the case of Workers Welfare Board. K-P was supposed to submit the rationalisation report to the federal government in January and August but the report has yet to be submitted.

On the occasion, Sardar said, “Five months’ salaries have not been paid to the employees, while the ad hoc lecturers have also not been paid for nine months.” The speaker took personal interest in the matter and said that the issue has come to the house many times and issued ruling, directing authorities to present their reports in the house.

Besides, lawmaker Mian Ziaur Rehman drew the house’s attention towards the October 2005 earthquake through a call attention notice.

Opposition walks out

The opposition members walked out of the house when lawmaker Munawar Khan complained regarding the chief minister’s false promise which he had made to them on the floor of the house.

“The chief minister promised us that he will discuss development schemes in the budget and the funds set aside for the projects. But he failed to show up, therefore we will boycott the session.”

Later, the opposition members walked out of the house that caused the quorum to be incomplete. The speaker had to prorogue the session for an indefinite period.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2016.