ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been playing a role in getting international projects for Punjab but never bothers to ensure the same for the other three provinces.

This was stated by Chairman Senate Functional Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas Usman Khan Kakar during a meeting of the committee on Monday.

The remarks came after Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Saira Afzal Tarar said international organisations, especially the UN agencies, never provided funds to provincial governments directly due to which allocations for the treatment of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and polio were made through the federal government.

“The ministry of NHS plays the role of a post office and just distributes the funds among provinces. Moreover, we get funding in kind such as equipment, kits etc., not in cash,” she said.

Senate body chairman says federal govt never allows donor agencies to directly provide funds to provinces

However, Mr Kakar rejected the claim and said the ministry never allowed donor agencies to directly provide funds to the provinces saying it had to go through the federal government.

But whenever a project fails, the responsibility is put on the province concerned by the federal government, he added.

“If foreign funding has to come through the federal government, how the Punjab government has been getting foreign projects and signing memorandums of understanding with different countries. The prime minister has been playing his role in getting contracts only for Punjab,” he said.

Mr Kakar said the committee had recommended that all medicines and assistance coming from donor agencies should directly be given to the provinces but the recommendation was not implemented.

“Under the Constitution, health is a devolved subject and there should not be a health ministry at the federal level,” he said.

However, Ms Tarar said if the committee had an objection over the existence of the health ministry, why its representatives were frequently called for a briefing on different issues. She said like in other countries, the federal health ministry’s job was to make regulations.

Senator Gian Chand said the ministry had failed to control hepatitis as the number of people infected with hepatitis-C was increasing in the country. He said the hepatitis medicine should be made available at an affordable rate.

The minister said though regulation was the job of the ministry, hepatitis was completely a different subject.

“First of all, there have been more hepatitis cases because diagnostic facilities and awareness of the disease have improved.” She said there was a need to ensure that only sterilised surgical items and tools are used in hospitals and people should avoid unnecessary use of injections and drink clean water.

“People should also get themselves tested frequently to ensure timely treatment, and in this regard, provinces should create awareness among the citizens. As far as the hepatitis medicine is concerned, its cost has already been decreased from Rs40,000 to only Rs1,500, making it affordable to everyone,” she said.

However, Senator Azam Khan Musakhel said how the consumption of clean water can be ensured in Balochistan where people and animals drink water from same ponds.

“The prime minister issued a number of advertisements to show his performance. Instead of the advertisements, campaigns should be launched to promote public awareness about hepatitis,” he said.

However, the minister claimed that it was the right of the government to advertise its performance as it also promoted public awareness.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2016