Parliamentary body briefed: 2,000 additional ventilators will be sought from China

Economic and paramedics team on Monday briefed the Parliamentary Committee on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) about the latest economic and health situation in the country due to spread of coronavirus.
First meeting of 25-member Parliamentary Committee on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) was held under the chairmanship of Asad Qaiser, speaker National Assembly of Pakistan on Monday at the Parliament House.
The economic team briefed the Committee on Economic and Business Plan for Revival of Economy, while paramedic team briefed on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).
During the briefing, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt-Gen Mohammad Afzal informed the committee that keeping in view the need of the country during the pandemic, 2,000 additional ventilators would be sought from China.
He said that that there were more than 3,800 ventilators present in the country as of now. Lt Gen Afzal said that the public sector had 2,200 ventilators, while the rest were with the private sector. The NDMA chairman told the meeting about the steps taken by the government regarding the said disease.
He said that 39,000 kits had been provided to provinces and 137 hospitals were working with PCR test kits in the country and 57,000 kits had been received from China so far.
The NDMA chairman further added that more ventilators had been provided to Punjab. He added that the Government of Pakistan was in touch with the Government of China for obtaining further equipment.
Briefing the Parliamentary Committee, Dr Zafar Mirza said that currently Pakistan had capacity of 6,584 tests and we were trying to expand the capacity by upto 2,000 tests.
He said a 10-member committee of pathologists had been formed, which would forward their recommendations about coronavirus tests in the country. Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Minister for Economic Affairs told the meeting that the decisions were being made with consensus and funds were being utilised properly.
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser told the meeting that the main object to constitute the said committee was to give the priority of inputs that would be obtained from the members of the parliament and the recommendations of the committee would be forwarded to the government for implementation.
He added that he had already issued directions to the National Assembly Secretariat for adopting the procedure to hold the meeting of standing committees by video links in future. We are taking effective measures to control the spread of coronavirus disease in the country, he added.
He further said that a sub-committee of the main committee to be notified comprising Senator Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs (Convener), Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, Leader of the House in Senate of Pakistan, Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, Shahida Akhter Ali, MNA, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, MNA, Senator Mushahidullah Khan and Senator Anwaarul Haq Kakar to prepare detail terms of reference of the committee and to examine the draft Rules of Procedure for Parliamentary Committee on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).
The next meeting of the Parliamentary Committee to be held on 9th April, 2020 in Committee Room No 02, Parliament House, Islamabad, he added.
The opposition members asked the questions from Dr Zafar Mirza, the SAPM and chairman, the NDMA about the availability of ventilators, testing kits and other equipments required for coronavirus disease and utilisation of funds received for said disease by the government, Taftan issue, tests being conducted and the PPEs, being provided in the country were insufficient.
They added that private sector may be involved with public sector. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Railways told in the meeting that there was a shortage of ventilators in the country and said committee may finalise the guidelines in respect of lockdown in the country. 145,000 passengers reached their destinations by 40 trains started from Karachi, he added.
??The Foreign Minister told the Committee that recommendations of committee may not be duplicated and recommendations of committee may be sent to NSC for decisions. He said that 35,000 tests of persons had been made so far who entered the country.
??Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, MNA informed the Committee that Chitral was free from coronavirus at present and asked those concerned about the steps taken by the government for provision of ventilators to the area.
Senator Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs told that equipment may be sent directly to provinces and Hazara Region, separately. He said that the number of tests being conducted by the government were not sufficient.
The meeting was attended by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Minister for Railways, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, MNA (PPP-P), Shahida Akhtar Ali, MNA (MMAP) Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti, MNA (JWP), Amir Haider Azam Khan, MNA (ANP), Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, MNA (MMAP), Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, Leader of the House, Senator Mushahidullah Khan (PML-N), Senator Sherry Rehman (PPP-P), Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif (MQM), Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri (JUI-F), Senator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar (PMAP), Senator Sitara Ayaz (ANP), Senator Anwarul Haq Kakar (IND), Senator Aurangzeb Khan (IND), Senator Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Service, Regulations and Coordination, Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal, chairman NDMA, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Minister for Economic Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Nausheen Hamid, MNA, Parliamentary Secretary on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.
However, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MNA, Senator Sherry Rehman, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and Agha Hassan Baloch, MNA attended the meeting by video link. The meeting was also attended by officers of the ministries/divisions.