No elite group to get priority in vaccination, Senate assured

ISLAMABAD: The Senate was assured on Friday that no elite group would be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccination.

Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Senators Sherry Rehman and Ayesha Raza Farooq, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan allayed fears that the vaccine would be administered on a priority basis to politicians, generals and judges.

He said that priority would be given only to high-risk category including frontline healthcare professionals, elderly people and teachers.

He said registration for vaccination would be made through an online portal — the National Immunisation Management System (NIMS).

The minister said that Pakistan would receive the first consignment of 500,000 Covid-19 vaccines from China on Sunday.

He said the cabinet had approved agreements worth $1.5 billion with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for purchase of vaccines, adding that talks were under way with different companies and procurement of the vaccine would start by the end of February.

Earlier, Senator Ayesha Farooq raised questions on who was to be prioritised as target population, expressing fears that private companies would procure the vaccine, which would reach the rich and influential people and the poor would be left in the lurch.

Healthcare staff, elderly people and teachers are to be inoculated first against Covid-19

She also asked the government to explain vaccine procurement policy, alleging that parliament was being kept in the dark on this important issue.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani later referred the matter to Senate’s standing committee concerned and suggested that a special assistant to the prime minister on national health services, Dr Faisal Sultan, should also attend the meeting.

Earlier, during the question-hour session, Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan informed the house that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had recovered Rs390 billion during the PTI government’s tenure.

In reply to a question, he said that over Rs480bn had been recovered by the bureau over the last 10 years. He said NAB could only collect Rs91bn in eight years before the PTI came into power and now an amount of Rs390 billion had been recovered by it in the last two years.

He said the low recovery rate in the past was “indicative of an NRO to the corrupt”. He also chided the opposition by mentioning Surrey Mansion and Avenfield properties in the UK, said to be owned by former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

He claimed the PTI government had “set free” all accountability institutions to operate independently.

In reply to another question, he said that members of the Tiger Force were rendering volunteer services in coordination with district administrations.

The minister claimed that the Tiger Force had played a pivotal role in controlling the spread of coronavirus in the country.

In reply to another calling attention notice, Ali Muhammad Khan said that repatriation of 200 teachers, who were on deputation, was as per law and in line with the order given by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

He said the order against which the teachers had already filed an inter-court appeal would be an actionable wrong if the teachers who were on deputation for over five years were not repatriated.

He said the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) had received many communications from respective provincial education departments seeking repatriation of these teachers. Citing one of the letters, he said the KP government was facing a shortage of teachers in the province.

He said the government was fully aware of teachers’ problems and they would be facilitated as per law and the Constitution.

He said that the government was willing to provide relief to teachers working on deputation and now facing repatriation due to completion of their five-year period.

The minister said that those who brought NOC from the parent departments had not been repatriated.

He said the government had no issue with the teachers, if they bring NOC from parent provincial departments.

Ali Muhammad Khan said that most of the teachers, male and female, came on deputation from provincial departments to FDE.

He said that action had been taken in 2019 to repatriate teachers working for the last many years in Islamabad even after completing their five-year deputation.

Speaking on the issue, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that repatriation of teachers on deputation would divide the families as they had been working in Islamabad for many years, and it would be against the wedlock policy.