HYDERABAD: Release of funds for health dept delayed
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, May 4: The Sindh finance department has yet to sanction and release Rs79.396 million for payment to staff working at health facilities.
As per record, the funds were not released till April 19 but a source said the same had not been released even till date.
In pursuance of the National Health Policy, the Sindh cabinet had approved a package for 2002-03 on Nov 27, 2001, for staff working at primary and secondary level health facilities.
The package was notified by the health department on Sept 21 that year as per advice of the finance department.
The health department, through a letter dated April 19, 2003, again moved the finance department for release of funds as the current financial year is about to end.
A reliable source told Dawn on Saturday that the amount had not been released as yet and it would lapse if the finance ministry did not approve it before June 30.
He said the incentive package would benefit specialist doctors, women doctors and women paramedics working at talukas hospitals, rural health centres, basic health units and dispensaries.
PA SPEAKAR: Sindh Assembly Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah has urged the masses to force political parties to make effective legislations for solution of their problems, persisting in Sindh since the creation of Pakistan.
He also urged community-based organisations to build up public opinion and inculcate awareness among masses about their fundamental rights.
He was speaking at the first session of “Community Institutions’ Convention”, organized by the Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) at Sindh Museum here on Saturday.
Mr Shah stressed the need for change that could be brought about through effective legislation and said that public pressure was very important in a democratic system and added that the mass mobilisation and the right use of vote were the two strong determinants for bringing a change in society.
He emphasised the need for greater interaction between masses and political forces so that the former could identify their problems to the latter for their resolution.
He said that people must identify wrong laws to their representatives and ensure that they were repealed or substituted.
He said that the CBOs had to go a long way for the solution of people’s problems because still there were areas where girls were denied their right to education and they had to travel for miles to fetch water.
He said that the role of provincial assemblies for securing rights of people was very important in democracy and added that it was up to the people to ensure through their elected representatives that effective legislation was made against Karo- kari.
Speaking on the occasion, Javed Jabbar asserted that Pakistan had attained the status of a unique state in the world after having survived different turmoils right from its inception.
SPO chairman and Bahaduddin Zakriya University dean Professor Karamat Ali pointed out that the World Trade Organisation considered right to education a commodity and its policies would also affect education sector in the world.
