In an unusual move, the members of Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Tuesday approached Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani with the demand 'to take action' against three top health officials; the minister of state for health, the secretary health and the DG health.
Faced with the unexpected situation, the chairman Senate, although, assured the committee members that he would 'take to task' the health officials concerned, yet the chairman has no practical powers to proceed against any government official found involved in the breach of the privilege of the Parliament or its committees, and he can only recommend action to the government against those officials, sources in Senate Secretariat told Business Recorder.
"The government departments usually honour the recommendations made by the chairman Senate keeping in view the prestige of the Upper House of the Parliament but if they don't, the chairman Senate cannot do anything except summoning the senior government officials and keep asking them to take action," a source in Senate Secretariat said.
Khushbakht Shujat from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which is a coalition partner of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), presided over the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination meeting.
"Not a single official from the top lot of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has bothered to attend this important meeting. This is height of the insult of the Parliament and its committees," she said.
"This is a breach of the privilege of the Parliament and we cannot let it go," the committee chairperson said referring to the absence of State Minister for National Health Dr Zafar Mirza, Secretary National Health Dr Allah Baksh Malik and Director General National Health Dr Assad Hafeez.
"There is no point in holding meetings of this committee unless the ministry is serious about resolving the issue of the masses," Shujat said.
The committee members including the chairperson as well as Dr Mehr Taj Roghani from PTI, Liaqat Khan Tarakai from PTI, Ateeq Shaikh from MQM and others announced to end the committee meeting in protest against the absence of senior government officials and went to the chamber of Sanjrani and informed him about the absence of the senior health officials from the Senate panel's meeting while requesting him to take action against the minister, the secretary and the DG.
Sources said the chairman Senate is under pressure from the senators to summon the senior bureaucrats in demonstration of the Parliament's authority the way former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani did.
Prior to this episode involving the absence of senior health officials from the committee meeting, the chairman Senate was irked by the absence of Secretary Interior Major Azam Suleman Khan (retd) for his absence from the Senate meetings.
Recently, however, the row between the chairman Senate and secretary interior has been finally resolved after the secretary interior tendered an 'unconditional apology' to Sanjrani, which, he has immediately accepted, for remaining absent from the Senate meetings.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019