Daily Times

The provincial government on Monday couldn’t pass ‘The Punjab Medical Teaching Institutions (Reforms) Bill’ in the Punjab Assembly due to the quorum issue and the pressure build up by the protesting doctors and nurses who are against this legislation, as they also held a protest demonstration outside the Punjab Assembly on Monday against the said bill.

The MTI bill, which the government claims that is meant to bring reforms in the health sector, isn’t acceptable to the doctors and nurses, as they said that it is the bill to privatise the hospitals. The young doctors, nurses and paramedical staff held protest demonstration outside the Punjab Assembly under the banner of Grand Health Alliance the day when PTI’s government was all set to pass the legislation. A delegation of GHA was also called by law minister Raja Basharat in Punjab Assembly to hold negotiations that remained unsuccessful. A second round of talk will be held today in which the law minister and health minister will try to remove the reservations of the GHA.

In Punjab Assembly, as the law minister moved the bill for its consideration, the PML-N pointed of the quorum that government failed to meet the required number of 93 in the house of 371. Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi then adjourned the session to meet again on Tuesday afternoon with the consultation of law minister Raja Basharat and health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid. There were four bills on the agenda, but not a single one was passed due to the collapse of quorum. However, the government introduced two bills to establish universities; Baba Guru Nanak University Nankana Sahib and Kohsar University Murree.

Earlier, Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat said that the government is not being told what treatment Mian Nawaz Sharif is taking in London and how long it is to be completed. It has been twenty weeks since Nawaz Sharif left Pakistan, but no one heard that he was admitted to a hospital for treatment, though we have said many times to come back. The law minister was giving a pre-session media briefing in the Punjab Assembly on Monday. He said the recent session has a full agenda that would lead to new legislations and pre-budget discussions. The issue of the Orange Line Metro train will also be discussed in the Punjab Assembly and we will bring four bills including Bana Grunanak University bill.

The minister said that the government made a better draft of the law and gave the opposition a chance but it could not play its role. “To get the opposition along, speaker issues a production order, but not one of the jailed or detained legislators seems interested in legislation. They do not even attend the meetings of the Standing Committees. The opposition did not talk about law and order in the House,” said the law minister. Raja Basharat said that despite the opposition leader’s production order, he neither came for four seconds in a four-day assembly session nor spoke a single word for his voters. He said that Hamza Shahbaz keeps busy in meeting with friends and spends time with the conspirators but does not pay any attention to honour the vote in Punjab Assembly.

Raja further said “Opposition legislators keep chanting slogans on the stairs of the Assembly but do not speak in the House. We say that the opposition might disagree, but by expressing its point of view, the other person’s position should be heard and corrected. It should harmonize it with the government and serve the people together.