Minister urges Sindh Assembly speaker to limit lawmakers' attendance

Dr Azra says lawmakers above 55 or those with comorbidities should not attend assembly session

KARACHI: As the opposition submitted a requisition for another session of the provincial assembly, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho has urged the assembly speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani, to prevent provincial lawmakers over the age of 55 as well as those with comorbidities from attending proceedings, owing to the higher risk they face from the novel coronavirus.

In a letter to Durrani on Monday, Dr Pechuho pointed out that the daily detection of Covid-19 had reached record highs last week as the province ramped up its testing.

"The number of total positive cases on June 7 was 1,744. Therefore, it is critical for each of us to follow the protocols and take necessary measures and precautions to break the chain of transmission of the disease," she stated in the letter.

She added that elderly people and people with multiple underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease, were at greater risk from the infection.

"The course of disease tends to be more severe in these cases," the health minister added.

The letter has been written after over 14 MPAs had tested positive for the virus, out of a total of 168 lawmakers in the provincial assembly. The test results of several MPAs and staff members, according to officials, are still awaited even though the assembly secretariat, with the help of health department, had taken samples last week.

"The speaker had summoned the previous session on June 3, and it was mandatory for all MPAs to undergo the test before then. So we made arrangements for this on June 1 and June 2m" explained Sindh Assembly secretary GM Farooq. "But even after the passage of one week, health officials have not given us the results."

He added that the opposition MPAs had once again submitted a requisition for an assembly session, which would likely be held soon. "Before the session, we will try to get the test results and conduct testing for other MPAs. We are also planning to conduct tests for journalists covering the assembly session."

It may be mentioned here that a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA, Shahana Ashar, was told that she had tested positive for the virus during the assembly session on Friday, upon which she immediately left the proceedings.

The incident created panic in the house, as she had been present at the assembly for three days and interacted with many lawmakers in this duration. As a result, several MPAs demanded that no lawmaker should be allowed to attend before receiving their test results.

Moreover, former information minister and Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Sharjeel Inam Memon also tested positive for the virus on Sunday. He was among those who had attended the proceedings last week.

Requisition

Meanwhile, members of the opposition, including opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi and MQM MPA Kunwar Naveed Jameel, submitted a requisition to call an assembly session to discuss the locust swarms threatening crops in the province along with other important issues on Monday.

Later, Jameel told the media that there were several matters they wished to discuss in the house, including the high incidence of coronavirus in the provincial capital and the issuance of fake domiciles. He added that the provincial budget would be announced in June and the rules of the assembly called for holding a pre-budget assembly session as well, since the representatives of hundreds of thousands of people wanted to weigh in on this.

*With additional information from Vakeel Rao

PHOTO: EXPRESS