ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: Parliamentary Secretary for Population Welfare Dr Donia Aziz on Monday impressed upon the members of the parliament's standing committee to take interest in the affairs of the ministry concerned , Dawn has learnt.

The parliamentary secretary was speaking at a meeting held at the parliament house. The meeting was presided over by Gul-i- Farkhanda.

In her remarks, Dr Aziz said compared to other federal ministries, the population welfare ministry had never come to the lime light during the National Assembly sessions because parliamentarians did not take interest in its affairs.

"The population welfare ministry is one of the important federal ministries but ignored due to lack of interest shown by members of the parliament," Dr Donia said.

She said parliamentarians must join hands to highlight population welfare issues both at national and local levels. Other social sector ministries including health, education and youth affairs could come forward to help the population ministry in its cause, she added. She said the population issue was like a ticking time bomb and it must be defused at the earliest.

During the meeting, Population Welfare Secretary Shahzado Sheikh informed that for International Standards Organization (ISO) certification of five reproductive health "A" type centres in the country, an amount of Rs5.5 million was required. "The ministry of education is considering setting up of these centres as a priority issue," he added.

Discussing the plan for setting up counselling centres for reproductive health, the committee observed that population growth rate in rural areas was very high due to illiteracy and lack of information.

The committee also expressed its concern over the run-down condition of the National Institute of Research for Fertility Care in Karachi. Chairperson of the committee directed the secretary to take adequate measures for the rehabilitation of the institute and appoint all necessary support staff without delay.

She also said that counselling centres for provision of reproductive health information to youth must be set up throughout the country.

In this connection, the secretary said, the ministry had already taken this issue into account, and through close collaboration of non-governmental organizations, lectures were being organized at college level.