Senate body demands immediate withdrawal of Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance

ISLAMABAD, Oct 24 (APP):Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat Thursday
unanimously rejected the Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance, 2019.

The committee thoroughly discussed the Ordinance and a resolution was passed in this regard. 

The meeting was chaired by Senator Talha Mehmood. Senators including Mushtaq Ahmed, Hidayat Ullah, Dr. Asad Ashraf, Ashok Kumar, Seemee Ezdi, Sassui Palijo and senior
officers from the Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Power and the Intelligence Bureau attended the meeting. 

Advisor to Prime Minister on International Reforms Dr. Ishrat Hussain was also present.  

Consideration of motion under Rule 218, raised by Senator Sassuio Palijo regarding the syllabus prescribed for the Central Superior Services (CSS) examination in the country, the Committee decided that it would be beneficial to club the briefing of the task force on working and recommended proposals.

The Committee was briefed about various measures being proposed to government to improve civil services and the CSS examination system and syllabus. 

Dr. Ishrat Hussain informed the Committee that members of the task force, comprised members of civil society, academia, private sector and six federal secretaries. 

He said that in addition to this, experts from 1345 sectors, have been consulted in this regard. After consultation, recommendations were made in 5 sub-groups that included recruitment and induction, training and performance management, career progression and promotion and compensation and benefits, he added. 

He said an implementation committee has also been set up. The restructuring of the federal government was in progress and that functional and legal classification of 441 institutions has been conducted, he added. 

He informed the Committee that according to findings of a survey, just 342 institutions are to remain with the Federal Government, the rest of which must be merged or shutdown.

The Committee was informed that just 8 institutions of Federal Government was to be shut down. However, the important thing was that there would be no job cuts and that employees would be merged in other agencies.

He said the Task force had plans to reform recruitment processes and that emphasis would be placed on the ‘right man for the right job’ narrative. The evaluation would no longer be confidential, he added. 

He said the Tourism Industry will be transformed and Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) will act as a regulating body. 

The Chairman directed further review of PTDC and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and disposed off the matter that pertained to CSS examination syllabus with a recommendation to seek details from Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). 

It was suggested that once work is completed on the syllabus, a presentation to the Committee must be made. 

While taking up the matter of inclusion of Balochistan based power generation projects in renewable energy policy 2019 and national power generation and evacuation plan 2023, the Committee recommended that a detailed briefing in the presence of Chief Secretary Balochistan be made, and then the matter was pended. 

The Committee was also briefed in-camera by Director IB in detail, regarding the present situation of Indian Occupied Kashmir.