The Senate committee chair, who sabotaged proceedings and fled from the session, now faces a vote of no confidence from members.
By Naveed Naqvi
ISLAMABAD: The Parliament’s push to expedite legislation to put the medical profession on an even keel hit a snag Wednesday when a Senate Standing Committee (SSC) charged with vetting the draft law rose in rebellion against its chairman after he attempted to bulldoze proceedings against the wishes of its members in stark violation of law and rules of business.
Several members of the committee then voiced no-confidence in the Chairman of SSC on Health and National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand after he allegedly unilaterally adjourned the session without disposing of the business at hand in a stark violation of parliamentary norms.
Mohmand belongs to former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Elected to a technocrat’s seat from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, he is a “plastic, cosmetic, and hair restorative surgeon” who runs a hair transplant practice in an upscale neighbourhood of federal capital Islamabad.
The Committee met Wednesday to consider two crucial private members bills forwarded to it by the Upper House a day before, with express instructions to return them in two days after due consideration and vetting.
The draft laws in question are the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) Bill, 2022; and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Bill, 2022.
Intended to repeal two acts railroaded through the parliament by the PTI government to change the status of the PIMS and abolish the PMDC, the bills cleared National Assembly in June but are yet to pass the Senate.
Sources with first-hand knowledge of the situation say Mohmand attempted to sabotage the PMDC bill at the behest of the current Vice President PMC, Muhammad Ali Raza. They say Raza, who was installed to this office by Khan after his government abolished PMDC and chartered PMC in its stead, is bent on wielding an influence over the final shape of the PMDC law.
PTI move to abolish PMDC threw the Pakistani medical profession in disarray as the new body is not recognised internationally. The upshot is that medial degrees from Pakistani universities are set to lose recognition abroad. The quandary will likely continue for now as the PMDC bill has been bogged down in Senate.
Mohmand apparently tried to unilaterally bulldoze the proceedings to mutilate the draft law, but his efforts were frustrated by the staunch opposition put in by a majority of the Committee members. The chairman then refused to sign the draft bill and fled the session contrary to rules of business.
After he fled, a handwritten note was found on his table saying, “What about amendments that Ali R asked you to?” Several committee members are said to believe the note was from Dr Faisal Sultan, who was Khan’s SAPM on Health and is currently the CEO of Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, Lahore.
They say the chairman’s dishonourable conduct is a flaring instance of cronyism, and smoking gun evidence that he is a puppet being controlled by extra-parliamentary forces.
Several members of the Committee then moved a resolution for a vote of no confidence against the chair, “as he has bulldozed the proceedings of the Committee meeting”. The resolution may be read in its entirety below.
Senator Saleem Mandviwalla took to Twitter in the evening to castigate Mohmand’s conduct, and to lament the delay his actions are bound to cause. He shared picture showing several senators signing the no-trust resolution against the Committee chair as well as the an image of the resolution itself.
National Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel also tweeted concerning the matter, sharing the note allegedly found on Mohmand’s desk after he fled, and asserted it was evidence of “a prescription for match fixing”.
The SSC on Health and National Health Services Regulations and Coordination has thirteen members, 4 of whom belong to PTI, 3 to PPPP, and 1 each to PKMAP and MQM-P, while 4 are Independents.
PTI’s members of the committee are Chairperson Senator Mohammad Humayun Mohmand, Senator Dr Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Senator Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, and Senator Fawzia Arshad.
The three PPPP Senators are Senator Rubina Khalid, Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi, and Senator Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar. Senator Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari belongs to MQMP and Senator Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen to PkMAP.
The Independent Senators on the committee are Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Hafiz Abdul Karim, Senator Dilawar Khan,
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
One thought on “Crucial PMDC bill stalled in Senate committee”
Comments are closed.