ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved setting of the retail price for COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
Briefing media persons after the federal cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Minister for Planning Asad Umar briefed the cabinet on the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country.
The forum was informed that around 5,000 patients suffering from coronavirus were in critical condition, which was the highest number of COVID-19 victims as compared to the last two peaks of the virus when the maximum number of critical patients remained 3,400.
He said presently Pakistan was producing 792 metric tons of oxygen to meet the requirement of COVID-19 patients. He said Pakistan's situation would not have been different from India had it not increased the number of ventilator beds by 7,000 and doubled the production of oxygen in the last one year.
He said it has been decided that the oxygen meant for the industrial sector will be diverted to the health sector if the situation worsens.
Fawad said the government was also considering to import oxygen from China and Iran, if need arises, while Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to ensure supply of essential items during the pandemic.
He said the government is trying hard to avoid a complete lockdown and that is why it is considering announcing five-day Eid holidays this time so that there was less pressure with regards to the virus.
About the anti-COVID vaccination, the minister said so far two million people have been vaccinated. He said the vaccine is fully safe for human health and urged the people to get themselves vaccinated against the virus as around one billion people across the world had so far got themselves immunised against the disease. He said 3.7 million doses of coronavirus vaccine were available in the country and now 40 years and above people are eligible for vaccination.
The minister spoke highly of the print and electronic media for creating awareness among the people regarding implementation of SOPs against the pandemic and added that the prime minister while chairing the NCC meeting recently had said that in case a complete lockdown was to be imposed, supplies of commodities will have to be ensured.
Regarding the newly-appointed Minister for Science and Technology Senator Shibli Faraz’s concerns about the quality of locally-made ventilators, Fawad said he might not have been given a complete presentation so far on the subject and that was why he had given such a statement.
The information minister, who has been replaced by Shibli as minister for science, explained that 100 locally-made ventilators were being sent to Sri Lanka and another 300 to Iraq while they have also been installed at Mayo Hospital after fulfilling all the procedural requirements during the year. He said the ventilator being made by NUST and NUTECH was also in the final stages.
Fawad said Shibli himself might not have knowledge about it as such and perhaps based his opinion on the briefings given to him so far.
He suggested the minister to get briefings from the companies which were producing these ventilators and that would also give him certifications.
Fawad said all the COVID-related materials had been made following these procedures and claimed that if these were not made, the situation would have been extremely critical by now.
The minister contended that scientists and engineers should be appreciated for their efforts and also the private sector which has done a tremendous job.
With regards to the approval of issuance of arms licenses, Fawad said only Shahbaz Gill had applied for it and others who want it should give application. He added that a new policy was being brought and now instead of the federal cabinet, the Ministry of Interior would give permission for arms licenses.
Regarding legislation for the electronic voting machines (EVMs), Fawad said now the government was in majority in the Senate as well and was now in a position to go for the legislation on its own.
He again urged the Opposition to submit their suggestions for electoral reforms so as to hold the next general elections through electronic voting system and to grant the right of vote to nine million overseas Pakistanis. He was confident that the next general elections would be held using EVMs.
The minister said Prime Minister's Advisor on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan briefed the cabinet about the electoral reforms and electronic voting machines and also on his interactions with other stake-holders.
He added that the government wanted to move forward on electoral reforms with political consensus and Prime Minister Imran Khan had written a letter to the Speaker National Assembly to engage the Opposition on the subject. He said the Speaker then wrote to the Opposition leaders for their input on the electoral voting system but so far no reply has been given by them.
He made it clear said the government could not wait for the Opposition's response indefinitely as it wanted to hold the next general elections through electronic voting machines and with overseas Pakistanis being granted the right to franchise.
He said if the PMLN and PPP wanted to oppose the move of granting the right of vote to expatriates -- as they were not their supporters -- they should openly express this viewpoint.
Fawad said the cabinet was given a detailed presentation on the issue of the electricity sector’s circular debt. “Due to inefficient policies of the previous government and 40-50 per cent excessive production of electricity, the capacity charges had increased from Rs450 billion to Rs900 billion and it means that the government has to pay Rs900 billion to power-producing companies whether we use electricity or not,” he said.
He said in 2023, which would be the election year, the capacity charges would reach Rs1,500 billion, causing raise in electricity rate from Rs11.75 to Rs16.44 per unit whereas the cost of per unit electricity production is at around Rs22 or Rs23.
Fawad said if the full cost of electricity production was passed on to the consumers, all the industry would have collapsed because of the unaffordable power.
The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan had asked the quarters concerned to find a way to get rid of the capacity charges issues without increasing the electricity tariff. He said the issue could be tackled by shutting down inefficient power production plants, adding that some had already been closed while the remaining would be shut down by September 2022.
Likewise, he noted that there were around 11 private sector IPPs generating around 3,300 megawatt electricity that was extremely expensive.
“We are giving Rs600 billion to these IPPs. The government is in negotiation for the purchase of the 11 IPPs so that these could also be shut down as per its policy,” he said. “The electricity sector’s line losses had also come down from 18.3 per cent to 17.8 per cent, despite the increase in the electricity tariff which showed good performance of the government.”
On the performance of the national flag carrier PIA, Fawad said the cabinet was informed that the operational losses of PIA had come down from Rs57 billion to Rs1 billion, which he termed a great success of the present management.
However, he said, the real problem of the PIA was its loan which caused an overall loss of Rs460 billion, adding that the national flag-carrier’s per aircraft staff ratio was 450 that stood highest in the world.
Fawad alleged that the governments of PMLN and PPP had ruined the national institution by making political and unnecessary appointments in the department.