Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Wednesday, appointed Doctor Sania Nishtar as special assistant on government’s poverty alleviation and social protection campaign.

A Cabinet Division notification was also issued on May 14, according to which the federal cabinet further swelled as Dr Sania would now be equivalent to a federal minister.

She is also the chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Program and heads the newly launched “Ehsas” programme.

“Dr Sania will be premier’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Programme,” read the notification issued by the Prime Minister House.

With impressive credentials, Dr Nishtar possesses broad-ranging experience in civil society, government, international development, policy and advocacy, humanitarianism and development, institution building and reforms. She also has firsthand experience in setting up institutions, fundraising and partnership building.

Dr Nishtar is a Sitara-i-Imtiaz recipient and previously served as a minister in the 2013 caretaker government.

She is believed to have played an instrumental role in re-establishing the health ministry during her tenure.

In 1998, she established a non-profit thinktank, Heartfile, which is a non-governmental organisation focusing on analysis and solutions to improve health systems and achieve universal health coverage in Pakistan and other developing countries.

Former foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar described Dr Nishtar as “eminently qualified and brilliant” while Aga Khan University’s Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health Founder Dr Zulfikar Bhutta called her “extremely capable and experienced in international affairs.”

She was also appointed co-chair to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) high-level commission on non-communicable diseases as well as chair to the US National Academy of Sciences initiative on the Quality of Healthcare in low and middle-income countries. Dr Nishtar further heads the UN International Institute for Global Health’s Advisory Committee.

In 2015, she was nominated by the Government of Pakistan to succeed Antonio Guterres (now UN Secretary-general) as the High Commissioner for Refugees. The doctor was again nominated in 2017 to succeed Margaret Chan as WHO Director-general.

Dr Nishtar has numerous research papers and books to her credit. Her latest publication, “Choked Pipes,” is a textbook for post-graduate level studies and a reference guide.

The addition of Dr Nishtar raises the total number of federal cabinet members to 48. It now includes 24 federal ministers, five ministers of state, five advisers to the prime minister and 14 special assistants to the prime minister.

Earlier in April, Pakistan’s cabinet witnessed a major reshuffle with several reallocation of portfolios and new appointments.

With the appointment of Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as Adviser on Finance, PM Khan also assigned the ministry of science and technology to Fawad Chaudhry.

Meanwhile, Ghulam Sarwar was made Federal Minister for Aviation; Ijaz Ahmed Shah, Federal Minister for Interior and Shehryar Afridi, Minister of State for States and Frontier Regions.

Similarly, Azam Swati was appointed as Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs whereas Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was made PM’s Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting.

Nadeem Babar was deputed as Special Assistant to PM Khan on Petroleum while Dr Zafarullah Mirza was made Special Assistant on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination. On March 27, the premier had launched “Ehsas,” a poverty alleviation program for public welfare. Under “Ehsas,” the government was said to increase its spending by Rs 80 billion in underdeveloped areas. This would be further augmented incrementally as the next phase would aim for Rs 120 billion rupees, PM Khan had noted.

He had claimed Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal would create 10, 000 homes for orphans in four years whereas 20 new centres would be established for disabled and special persons. In the next four years, the government would help 3.3 million people while Rs 33 billion had been added to the Insaf Insurance scheme, he added.

During the ceremony of the ambitious social safety and poverty alleviation programme, PM Khan repeatedly appreciated Dr Nishtar, who now heads “Ehsas.”