Disabled Persons Employment, rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill approved by National Assembly body

National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat has unanimously approved "The Disabled Persons Employment and Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2014" to facilitate the disabled in government and private sector jobs. The committee meeting was held with Asad Umar in the chair at Parliament House on Tuesday. It said that the bill is aimed at making physical access easy for the disabled persons including in the private sector for job provision as well as to ensure punishment to those who misuse the law.
The Committee also discussed the issues relating to Thalasaemia patients, Bone Marrow Transplant Centre, establishment of federal breast cancer and up-gradation of critical care facilities at PIMS. MNAs: Malik Ibrar Ahmed, Nighat Parveen Mir, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Moulvi Agha Muhammad, Nafeesa Inayatullah Khan Khattak, Muhammad Rehan Hashmi, Syed Ali Raza Abidi, Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary and Secretary of the Ministry participated in the meeting.
According to objectives of "The Disable Persons Employment & Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2014"to make the disabled persons effective and inclusive part of the society the private sector shall also provide employment to such person. There is also growing evidence that the legal provision was being abused and people who were not qualified to be called as disabled were getting the benefit of law reserved for disabled person.
The Bill will expand the scope of the law to make physical access easy for the disabled persons, job provisions including in private sector and to make the misuse of law punishable. Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary told the Committee while discussing the issue of Thalasaemia that 30000 to 50000 cases of Thalasaemia have been registered. He said that at this time 50 children are being treated of Thalasaemia in the PIMS hospital.
The Minister said that more than 70 percent successful treatment is being carried out in PIMS hospital. While responding to the members of the Committee, the Minister said that work on hygienic issue of the PIMS hospital is being conducted and a comprehensive report on it would be completed within two weeks and strict action would be taken against those who would be involved in it.
Malik Abrar said that there is dire need of more hospitals in Islamabad due to increasing population. The Chairman Committee said that the existing hospitals are not fulfilling the requirement of Islamabad citizens. He said that patients from surrounding areas and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also come in the hospitals of Islamabad. He said that a new hospital is required in the capital to fulfil the needs of the citizens.