KARACHI: Manpower export may touch 0.2m mark: Lalika
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 13: Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Abdul Sattar Lalika has expressed the hope that the figure of the country’s manpower export this year may touch the mark of 0.2 million whereas an amount of US$4.5 billion in remittances is expected.
Addressing a press conference at a local hotel on Sunday, during his brief visit to the city, Mr Lalika pointed out that the economic stability had enabled the government to pay due attention to the unemployment issue. The government, he added, was giving priority to human resource export in order to improve remittances and foreign exchange reserves.
Under the PSDP, he said, an amount of Rs165 billion would be spent during the current financial year on development works while the work on four dams and two highways alone would be generating more than 0.5 million jobs.
He attributed the encouraging situation in manpower export to the policy of merit and transparency and the government’s adhering to the standard laid down by the clients. He observed that the standard had not been maintained in the past that led to set backs. In this regard, he gave the example of Malaysia which had resorted to keep a ban on manpower imports from Pakistan for 11 years.
Claiming that the new policy adopted by the government had started delivering, Mr Lalika said that in January this year, 239 doctors had been recruited by the chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission for Malaysia which has now asked for another 500.
He said that the present government had appointed attaches in 13 countries to deal with community welfare affairs and remain in touch with employers and private promoters in their respective countries in order to explore employment opportunities. The attaches have also been assigned the task of assisting overseas Pakistanis willing to make investment in their homeland.
Giving figures, the minister said that from Jan 1 to June 30, 2002, at total of 57,639 people were sent abroad while in the same period this year, the number had risen to 114,519. Those provided jobs abroad, he added, included farmers, engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, carpenters, masons, electricians, mechanics, cooks, painters, denters and light/heavy-duty drivers.
In Greece, Mr Lalika revealed, hydroponic farming was being undertaken mainly by Pakistanis.
He appealed to all the skilled and unskilled workers seeking an employment abroad to avail the services of only those promoters whose advertised such vacancies in newspapers. This, he said, was necessary to enable the government safeguard the job-seekers’ interests and protect them from cheating by fake agents.
Mr Lalika pointed out that Pakistani nurses were in great demand in Muslim countries but due to a shortage of such para-medical staff at this moment, it was not in a position to send them abroad. He observed that the ratio indicated that there was only one nurse for every four doctors as against the internationally set standard of four/five nurses for every doctor.
To cope with the situation, the minister revealed, the government had chalked out a crash programme aimed at upgradation graduate nurses by imparting training to them under a three-month language courses in spoken Arabic and English at the National Institute of Modern Languages.
Besides, he added, a pilot project was also being launched to impart training to 3,002 nurses at those hospitals where training facilities were available. In such institutions, evening classes are being planned, he said.
Replying to different questions about the utilization of the workers welfare fund, he said that 50 per cent of the fund would be spent on vocational training while the rest would be at the disposal of the Board of Governors.
“No amount from the fund would be released without the approval of the Board of Governors where there is an equal representation of the government, employers and employees,” he declared while pointing out with regrets that a lot of money had been wasted in the past on a project which delivered nothing. Elaborating, he recalled that Rs850 million had been spent on the directives of one prime minister and Rs450 million on the instructions of another one on the project.
In reply to a question, he said that overseas Pakistanis would be discouraged from taking part in politics.
