Senate body on health meets
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—The Senate Standing Committee on Health met at the Parliament House Thursday under the Chairmanship of Senator Abdul Razak A. Thahim, has emphasized the need for well-organized and well-planned monitoring system to properly monitor various health programmes launched at national level.
It was observed that a comprehensive monitoring would help improve the health standards and would help in providing basic health facilities at the lower level. The Committee noted with concern that despite efforts, the hepatitis B and C was on the rise and the medicines were much expensive. They opined that a more focused approach was required to control the communicable diseases like hepatitis, T.B., HIV/Aids etc. Members also stressed for creating more awareness about the communicable diseases. Senators demanded that a comprehensive and updated health policy should be introduced as soon as possible and priorities should be fixed as it would not only help in providing relief to the common man but would also help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the long run.
The Committee gave responsibility to Prof. Sajid Mir to identify the areas, which need immediate attention so that the Committee may prepare its plan of action and give its input to improve those aspects in health sector which remained neglected during the past. Members were surprised to know that Pakistan lags behind as for as MDGs were concerned. They suggested that drastic measures were required to achieve those goals.
Earlier, Mr. Khusnood Akhtar Lashari, Secretary Ministry of Health gave a detailed presentation on the working and performance of the ministry and its attached departments and the efforts made to improve the health of the people. He informed that the number of doctors and nurses was less than the required which is creating problems in the hospitals and other health centers. He also informed the Committee about the salient features of the national health policy 2001 and said that the policy was being updated and efforts were being made to bridge the gaps. He gave detailed figures of the allocations made for health during last three years. He said that the network of Lady Health-workers is being strengthened at the rural level to provide basic health facilities to female folk in the far flung areas. He also briefed the Committee about various programmes launched at national levels like National Programme of Primary Health Care and Family Planning, Expanded Programme on Immunization, National TB Control Programme, National Rollback Malaria Programme, National Aids Control Programme, National Hepatitis Control Programme and many others. Senior officials of the PIMS, Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Center, Karachi, National Institute of Child Health, Karachi and Federal Government Services Hospital, Islamabad also apprised the Committee about the problems being faced by these institutes.
The meeting was attended, among others, by Senators Mrs. Razina Alam Khan, Dr. Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Dr. Mrs. Kauser Firdaus, Abdul Rashid and Prof. Sajid Mir besides Secretary Health and senior officials of the Ministry.