Proposed changes to MTI Act, LG Act

PESHAWAR: Supporting the demands by the doctors and paramedics of the government hospitals and district nazims, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial head Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Friday vowed to raise both the issues in the Senate and force the government to withdraw decisions which he said were unconstitutional.

Speaking at a news conference, he rejected the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Reform Act and the proposed changes to the Local Government Act, saying the JI would resist it and not allow the government to take illegal decisions.

A former senior minister and JI’s Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Inayatullah and JI provincial secretary information Jamaat Ali Shah flanked him.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad said the provincial government was trying to privatize the health facilities in the name of establishing the Regional Health Authorities and District Health Authorities.

He said the government was bent upon damaging government institutions by taking decisions in haste.

The JI leader observed that currently, numerous problems existed in the Health Department. He said the government had failed to fulfil its basic responsibility of providing health and education facilities and maintaining law and order

“It seems the government is trying to get rid of the Health Department,” he remarked.

The government, he said, considered health and education as a burden and that was why it was trying to privatize the health facilities.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad said the government was trying to hand over the Health Department to capitalists through the MTI Act.

He said the government was trying to amend the MTI Act without taking the doctors into confidence.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was creating problems for qualified paramedics in the name of healthcare commission.

He said the doctors were protesting against the MTI, which had also multiplied problems of the patients.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmad said the government should ensure the security of the life and property to doctors urging the government to stop hurling threats at them.

The JI leader said the PTI government could not bring reforms through remote control from America as it has already ruined the health system in the province.