Senate Secretariat ————— “Questions
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1 (295th Session) SENATE SECRETARIAT ————— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the Senate to be held on Tuesday, the 14th January, 2020 DEFERRED QUESTIONS [Questions Nos. 60, 205, 206, 210, 212, 215, 216 and 217 deferred on 8th May, 2019, (288th Session)] (Def.) *Question No. 60 Senator Chaudhary Tanvir Khan: (Notice Received on 26/03/2019 at 11:00 AM) QID: 35977 Will the Minister for Maritime Affairs be pleased to state: (a) the number of ships which can be docked at Port Qasim, Karachi simultaneously with type and size wise breakup; (b) the number of foreign ships arrived at the said port during the last five years with country, type and size wise breakup; and (c) the revenue earned by the Government from the arrival of the said ships during that period with year wise and ship wise breakup? Syed Ali Haider Zaidi: (a) Requisite information is placed at Annex-A. (b) Requisite information is placed at Annex-B. (c) Requisite information is placed at Annex-C. (Annexures have been placed on the table of the House as well as Library) 2 (Def.) *Question No. 205 Senator Chaudhary Tanvir Khan: (Notice Received on 3/04/2019 at 12:50 PM) QID: 35029 Will the Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development be pleased to state: (a) the amount released under the head of Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) during the last five years with year wise and province wise breakup; and (b) whether there is any proposal under consideration of the Government to make the said fund more transparent and efficient, if so, the details thereof? Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development: (a) Rs. 63.274 Billion were released by the Finance Division to Workers Welfare Fund, during last five years (2014-15 to 2018-19) as detailed below:— Year-wise and Province-wise release of funds made to Provincial Workers Welfare Boards and Workers Welfare Fund against their approved budget is as under:— 3 (b) A transparent mechanism already exists in disbursement of the fund to Provincial Governments, after release of fund by Finance Division on quarterly basis. Prior to disbursement of fund, demands of Provincial Governments are obtained on quarter basis along-with details of unspent balance of the previous quarter. Fund is released to the provinces on quarterly demand and need basis, as per approved procedure. The unspent balance with the provinces is adjusted twice a year on 1st July and 1st January of each year. There is a need for capacity building of the provinces for fully utilization of the fund to avoid its lapse. No provinces have ever reported unequal distribution of fund. However, some time their demands are curtailed according to the provision from Finance Division and maintained by Workers Welfare Fund to efficient release of fund. The proposal will be examined and submitted to the Finance Division after decision of its devolution or otherwise. (Def.) *Question No. 206 Senator Chaudhary Tanvir Khan: (Notice Received on 3/04/2019 at 12:50 PM) QID: 35032 Will the Minister for Federal Education,Professional Training, National History and Literary Heritage be pleased to state: (a) the names, designations and place of domicile of the members of the Senate established in the public sector universities in the country with university wise breakup; and (b) whether there is any proposal under consideration of the present Government to improve the sandard of the said universities, if so, the details thereof? Mr. Shafqat Mahmood: (a) A consolidated list containing the names, designations, place of domicile of the members of Senate/ Syndicate/ Board of Governors established in the public sector universities across the country with university-wise breakup is attached at Annex-I. 4 (b) Improvements in performance and standards of Higher Education Sector is one of core strategic aims of the present Government. The Government fully supports the programmes, policies, and reforms initiated by Higher Education Commission (HEC) for improvement of Higher Education Research and Development. As a result of these reforms, the ranking of Pakistani Universities have improved substantially, and there are twenty three (23) Pakistani Universities ranked in top 500 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asian ranking, 2019 and (9) Nine Pakistani Universities ranked in top 1000 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World ranking, 2019. Nature, International Journal of Science in its article dated 27-12-2018 states that Pakistan and Egypt had highest rises in research output in 2018. According to estimates, Pakistan and Egypt topped the list in percentage terms, with rises of 25% and 15.9% in research output, respectively. Detail of some of Programmes launched by HEC for improvement of HEIs standards, overall governance, and quality of education is attached at Annex-II. Note: A total of 113 public sector universities are in the country. The data from 83 universities/DAIs have been received. The remaining data is being compiled and will be provided shortly. (Annexures have been placed on the table of the House as well as Library) (Def.) *Question No. 210 Senator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar: (Notice Received on 11/04/2019 at 9:35 AM) QID: 36012 Will the Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination be pleased to state: (a) the number of Pakistani students who completed their MBBS from foreign countries during the last ten years with year wise breakup; and (b) the number of the said students who passed the PMDC test and got registered with it during that period with year wise breakup? 5 Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination: (a) (b) (Def.) *Question No. 212 Senator Mushtaq Ahmed: (Notice Received on 12/04/2019 at 9:35 AM) QID: 35605 Will the Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that typhoid is rapidly increasing in the country, if so, the number of cases of the same reported during the period from 2016 to 2018; and 6 (b) whether it is also a fact that the medicines available in the market do not properly cure the said disease which makes it difficult to control the same, if so, the steps being taken by the Government in this regard? Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination: (a) Typhoid fever is an endemic disease has always effected people in the country. Cases of typhoid are reported from health facilities throughout the country via the District Health Information System (DHIS). The number of typhoid cases reported through DHIS for the specified years are listed below: • 2016: 197,515 cases • 2017: 277,306 cases • 2018: 242,071 cases (b) Typhoid fever is normally sensitive to broad spectrum antibiotics available across the country. Since December 2016, the province of Sindh has been facing an outbreak of a Drug Resistant (XDR) Typhoid Fever. This particular variant of typhoid is resistant to the drugs which are commonly used to treat typhoid fever. The XDR variant has acquired genetic resistance to these drugs and is only sensitive to macrolides and carbapenem based antibiotics. Hence it is not the case that drugs are not properly curing the disease, rather the resistant variety of the bacterium is resistant to the standard drugs used for treatment. The M/o NHSRC has been involved in supporting the DoH, Government of Sindh in managing this outbreak since August 2018 and have organized multiple WHO missions of Subject Matter Experts to analyse, characterize and assess, the ongoing outbreak. These WHO missions have subsequently developed a consensus based National Action Plan (NAP) for XDR Typhoid with input from stakeholders from across the country. 7 (Def.) *Question No. 215 Senator Mushtaq Ahmed: (Notice Received on 17/04/2019 at 12:40 PM) QID: 35419 Will the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the performance of Pakistan teams in sports like Hockey, Cricket, Squash, Snooker, Athletics and Boxing at the International level has become poor at present, if so, the reasons thereof; and (b) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to improve the performance of Pakistani teams/players in the said sports, with particular reference to hockey? Dr. Fehmida Mirza: (a) Pakistan Sports Board The performance of Pakistan teams in sports like Hockey, Athletics and Boxing can be termed as unsatisfactory despite the fact that a considerable grant had been released to these Federations for promotion/upgradation of their sports discipline. However, the performance of Squash and Snooker is better as compared to the other disciplines. M/s Babar Masih and Zulfiqar Abdul Qadir won 7th Asian Team Championship in Doha, Qatar from 16th to 28th June 2019 by beating India in Final. Mr. Muhammad Bilal and Mr. Asjad Iqbal also won World team event beating India in 16th to 28th June 2019. The performance of U/17 & U/19 Squash players during the year 2017 to 2019 was satisfactory as they won 32 Gold, 17 Silver and 20 Bronze medals in different international championships events. The grants released to these Federation during the last five (05) years is given below: 8 However, a some factors contributing to the poor performance are as under: Lack of training at grass root level. Internal politics and lack of discipline. Lack of international exposure to our players. Improper selections of players. In order to encourage the players who won medals in mega sports events and international events by the Squash players the Government has paid cash prized in June 2019. Pakistan Cricket Board Currently, the Pakistan Cricket Team is ranked No.1 in T20 cricket, No.5 in the One Day cricket and No.7 in Test Cricket.