KARACHI: Conceding that around three-fourths of the pregnant women in Sindh had no service available to them for safe delivery in the healthcare facilities run by the provincial government, Health Minister Azra Pechuho said on Tuesday that her ministry had launched a multifaceted strategy to improve conditions in the health sector and alleviate poverty.

Issues of poor indicators in the social sector in the province were highlighted when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Khurrum Sher Zaman tabled an adjournment motion in the Sindh Assembly on the private members’ day with Speaker Siraj Durrani in the chair, mainly raising the issues of stunted growth in Sindh. He said almost half of the children in the province were victims of stunting and such an issue should be given due importance. The government should have declared emergency to tackle it.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Chawla initially opposed the adjournment motion, saying Health Minister Pechuho wanted to furnish a policy statement on the issue raised in the motion.

‘Livestock department has initiated a fodder distribution drive with Rs50 million in four union councils of Tharparkar district’

He said a decision on whether to hold a debate on the adjournment motion would be taken after the health minister’s statement.

Dr Pechuho informed the house that a programme funded by the European Union was under way in eight Sindh districts aiming at alleviating poverty.

Besides, added the minister, the provincial government had planned to target six more districts by launching a similar project sponsored by the World Bank.

She said around 75 per cent of the pregnant women received no service for safe delivery at the government-run hospitals. However, she added, the government was aware of the issue and had planned various strategies to ensure better services at those healthcare facilities.

She said the government had initiated several programmes in the past, which had improved Sindh’s health indicators in the recent official surveys as in many sectors the province registered progress “way above” the rest of the country.

She assured the mover of the adjournment motion that Sindh had already launched many programmes in which various sectors and departments had been brought on a single forum to tackle the scourges of stunting and wasting.

She said malnutrition was regarded as silent hunger for which the Sindh government had launched programmes which particularly targeted mothers and children.

Dr Pechuho said with the health ministry, the population welfare department, also under her supervision, had been involved in making women aware of the importance of birth spacing. She said a programme had been launched with the cooperation of the World Bank to control population.

Minister Chawla later asked the chair to admit the PTI lawmaker’s adjournment motion for debate as the issue highlighted in it bore great significance to the people of Sindh.

Speaker Durrani admitted the motion and fixed it for debate on Monday.

Question hour

Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Abdul Bari Pitafi told the house during the Question Hour that a programme for women empowerment through rehabilitation of rural poultry at Karachi, Thar, Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana and Jacobabad was being executed by his ministry. It was completed in June.

Responding to a question furnished by Grand Democratic Alliance’s Nusrat Sehar Abbasi, the minister said the scheme was originally approved at the cost of Rs59.56 million and was to be completed by June last year. However, it was revised at a cost of Rs84.428m with the addition of two more districts — Sujawal and Tando Mohammad Khan.

He said the activities that the project undertook included distribution of poultry birds, training to rural women, procurement of medicines, vitamins, vaccines and feed for the birds and holding seminars etc as per scope of the scheme.

A PTI lawmaker remarked that the PPP government had taken a U-turn by distributing birds to people following the example of the prime minister’s poultry scheme.

Mr Pitafi said it was the PM who had “copied” the Sindh government’s scheme, which had originally started in 2015.

He said the scheme had helped the government to emancipate rural women. He added that some 3,000 women had been trained.

Answering another question also asked by Ms Abbasi, the minister said a scheme to upgrade the veterinary centre at Bhan Saeedabad was approved in August 2017 at a cost of Rs5.8m for a year. But due to lesser releases by the finance department during the 2017-18 fiscal, it could not be completed and was extended for a year. He added that the scheme was completed in June and cost Rs5.47m.

The GDA member also asked the minister to furnish details about a project involving construction of a veterinary centre at Shahpur Jahanian in Benazirabad district at a cost of Rs6m.

The minister said the project was to be completed by June last year. However, it could not be started yet due to unavailability of land required for it.

The minister denied a statement made in another question asked by Khurrum Sher Zaman, which sought to know whether the livestock department had refused to provide fodder to over 7.69 million animals in emergency situations.

Minister Pitafi said the provision of fodder to animals during an emergency was not under the domain of his ministry. However, he added, with the approval of the chief minister, the livestock department had initiated a fodder distribution drive through the Thar Foundation with Rs50m in four union councils of the desert district.

He said there were around seven million animals in Thar, and none of them had died of any disease because his department had got them vaccinated.

He said none of the pheasants in Thar had died as the department had got them vaccinated.

Oath-taking

Before administering oath to the GDA’s Moazzam Abbasi, who was recently elected from Larkana by defeating ruling Pakistan Peoples Party’s Jameel Soomro, Speaker Durrani referred to the mayhem created by the opposition in the house on Friday when the session was adjourned.

He said the house was the “D-Chowk where members organise their processions”.

“I will not tolerate anything that targets the sanctity of the house. My staff was humiliated and harassed; which is why passes to those visitors have been cancelled. I wanted that your family would have witnessed this occasion, but certain members in the house conspired to deny you this joy,” said Siraj Durrani.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2019