ISLAMABAD, JAN 22 (DNA) – Opposing Federal government’s takeover on Sindh’s hospitals, the Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman has said, “Sindh’s National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and Jinnah Sindh Medical University are renowned all over Asia for their world class care. People from all over the country come there for treatment since there are no other hospitals in the country which offer the same high quality of care and treatment but plans are being made by the federal government to takeover them”.

“Employees are already feeling threatened that they will go down the same route as PIMS. This is completely illegal under the 18th amendment. Service delivery which is with the province can not be taken over by the federal government. As it stands the service delivery record of PTI in health and education is abysmal. You only need to see the state of KP institutions to understand that.

Why do they want to get into something they are not capable of handling? Why do they want to damage the quality of these hospitals?” she questioned.

She said, “Sindh is attracting doctors from the private sector by paying them more and giving them incentives. Instead of making the provinces more independent during the pandemic, this government wants to take down the only functional hospitals in the country. We strongly condemn these attempts by the federal government to takeover Sindh’s hospitals”.

Speaking on the MDCAT issue, Rehman said, “121,000 students are protesting against the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC) over their abrupt decision to ‘centralise’ the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) from this year. How can they conduct exams without consulting the province and the syllabus? All rules have been violated to conduct these exams. The students have said that in the MDCAT paper they were given questions out of the syllabus. They also claimed that the names on the result certificates given to them were incorrect. Their degrees will not be accepted anywhere and their future is at risk”.

“PMDC employees have been neglected and no one is taking responsibility. There’s news that someone is running PMC from abroad via Skype without any rules & regulations. How can a person sitting abroad run a key medical institution? Even the courts have said that it will run according to certain laws but the same laws are openly being violated. Pakistani doctors are acknowledged worldwide and their preliminary degree by PMDC held a lot of value and credibility. But now PMDC has been destroyed by this government,” she added.

She said, “If PMC is not capable of handling such a complicated exam then why is it controlling this process? There is no transparency in their structure and cronies are being awarded. Sole appointing authority is always under the board’s control but ironically, when it comes to the PMC, this authority lies with the PM.

Why is Tabahi Sarkar bulldozing all our institutions? Any government state institute and regulatory body which was once working, whether it’s PIA, PTDC or PMDC, is now bulldozed by this incompetent government. Why is merit being ignored to award cronies? Meanwhile, another construction amnesty has been given to business cronies through a Presidential Ordinance, while the government is unable to meet their target for collecting tax. This only happens when the institutions are weak”.

The Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman concluded by saying that, “We demand that an inquiry must be conducted and a committee should be appointed to investigate this matter. This issue should be referred to the committee with a time frame”.=DNA

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KARACHI, JAN 22 (DNA) – “Hameed Haroon, President and Sarmad Ali, Secretary General of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society have expressed profound grief on behalf of APNS Office Bearers and members of the Executive Committee over the sad demise of Mr. Imran Ahmed, son of Mr. Mushtaq Qureshi, Chief Editor Monthly Naey Ufaq and Monthly Aanchal.

The APNS Office Bearers have offered condolence to the bereaved family and have prayed that Almighty Allah rest the departed soul in eternal peace and give them courage and patience to bear the loss.=DNA

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DNA

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 22 – China has a big role to play in promoting Pakistan’s tea industry, as potential suitable sites and land for tea cultivation is located alongside the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), says a report published by Gwadar Pro, quoting experts.

Pakistan has identified 64,000 hectares of area as suitable for tea cultivation along the CPEC’s route, according to Dr. Abdul Waheed, Director of the National Tea and High Value Crops Research Institute (NTHRI).

However, tea is currently cultivated on around 200 acres of land only. The area of Shinkiari in Manshra alone produces seven to eight tons of tea annually.

“If we grow tea on 64,000 hectares of land, Pakistan will not only be self-sufficient in tea but will also export tea products to other countries,” said Dr. Abdul Waheed.

Some farmers have already planted tea at various acreage but mostly very low percentage as the market demand for green tea leaf from farmers is very low. No regulatory or management agency is involved to promote tea plantation by farmers. Thus, the progress so far is very slow.

The Planning Commission of Pakistan has recently completed the Tea cluster study under Agriculture Transformation initiative for commercialization of tea in Hazara and Malakand with a view to reduce the ever-increasing tea imports bill and loss of foreign currency drained on tea import.

According to experts, besides reducing soil erosion and forest degradation, the bushy plants of tea can reduce global warming and can help promote eco-tourism in northwestern part of Pakistan. The rise in tea plantation can also lead to large-scale job opportunities in agriculture and industrial sectors.

As potential suitable sites and land for tea cultivation is located alongside CPEC, China has a big role to play in promoting tea on a commercial scale through joint ventures and technical and financial support, they added.

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has rejected the formation of inquiry committee by Prime Minister Imran Khan to probe the Broadsheet scandal.

Senior leader of the PPP, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari while showing reservations on the inquiry committee termed it as an attempt to distort the facts.

He alleged that appointment of the committee chairman shows the dishonesty of the government. Broadsheet is an important issue and the PPP demands impartial inquiry into the matter.
The federal cabinet meeting on Tuesday had formed an inquiry committee on the Broadsheet scandal.

It is pertinent to mention here that UK-based asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC had been hired in 2000 by General Pervez Musharraf’s government to help recover assets stashed by past Pakistani rulers abroad.

Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Mousavi in an interview had said that he was offered a $25 million bribe to drop an asset probe against the Sharif family.

KARACHI : The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday extended bail before the arrest of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Aijaz Jakhrani in assets beyond means case until February 9.

At the outset of the hearing, Jakhrani’s counsel presented coronavirus diagnosis report of his counsel before the court. The court while showing resentment over the non-appearance of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, summoned DG NAB Karachi in person on February 9.

The SHC also extended bail before the arrest of the PPP stalwart until February 9.
The anti-graft watchdog had accused Aijaz Jakhrani and four others of their alleged involvement in corruption worth Rs740 million in a reference, whereas, the Sindh CM’s aide and 12 others are facing charges of Rs360 million corruption in the second reference.

Later, the accountability court’s judge adjourned the hearing till January 2.

On November 6, an accountability court had indicted five accused including Adviser to the Chief Minister on Prisons, Aijaz Jakhrani, in assets beyond income case.