ISLAMABAD: A Senate sub-committee on Monday criticised the delay in holding National Council for Homeopathy (NCH) elections. The meeting of the Sub-Committee on National Health Services (NHS) was chaired by Senator Kalsoom Parveen. Senator Ghaus Muhammad Khan Niazi and Senator Dr Ashok Kumar were also present. The committee said that equal representation should be given to all provinces in the NCH. Homeopathy Association representative Amanullah Bismil told the committee that transparent elections were not possible due to gross irregularities in the available data of homeopathy colleges and doctors. On April 28 this year, the government had appointed an administrator for the NCH after the five-year term of the previous council ended. The administrator was appointed to support the council for holding elections. However, the appointment was met with severe opposition. The council did not get a returning officer (RO) to organise the elections. Bismil requested the committee to de-notify the current examining body of NCH and instead to constitute a five-member committee to work with the administrator. He also informed the committee that there was no impartial set up to monitor the homeopathic examination system. “The whole system should be transferred to universities,” he said. He told the committee that the data of new registrations and renewals must be reviewed through District Health Officers (DHO). “The verified details of all homeopaths should be updated on the NCH website to remove ambiguities,” he said. This will also help prepare lists of colleges, teachers and practitioners, he said. Committee Convener Senator Kalsoom Parveen said that the NCH faced a number of problems. “However, no improvement has been made in its matters so far,” she said. She directed the ministry to set terms of references (TORs) and verify details of members from the board before elections. She also directed officials to verify the data of homeopaths to ensure transparency in the elections and to appoint a returning officer as soon as possible. She said that equal representation should be given to all provinces in the council to avoid the impression of nepotism. “The post of the president of the council must be given in rotation to all provinces,” she said. The convener also directed the officials to scrutinise the data before the election and ensure that all voters had original National Identity Cards (NIC). She also allowed the NCH administrator to inspect colleges till the new council was elected. The NCH officials informed the subcommittee that a date for the election had been announced. “The RO will be appointed in the next few days. Names have been forwarded to the National Health Services state minister for approval,” they said. The NCH officials endorsed the suggestion of holding examinations through universities. NCH Administrator Shakeel informed the committee that registration and renewal cases were being dealt by the NCH. “The names and addresses are also being verified,” he said. The subcommittee also directed the Health Ministry to provide additional staff to the NCH to conduct the elections. Published in Daily Times, July 25th 2017.