MPAs offer diversion of funds to health to contain coronavirus

PESHAWAR: Realizing the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic in Mardan district, some lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) recently offered to forego their share of development funds and divert the money to the health sector to meet the urgent need for medical equipment and other tools to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The proposal was made at the recent teleconference aimed at focusing attention on the coronavirus situation in Mardan. It was hosted by PTI MPA, Zahir Shah Toru, with the full backing of former senior provincial minister Mohammad Atif Khan. The participants of the teleconference in their recommendations to the government argued that the development funds could be better spent in the health sector at this critical time when the priority is to treat coronavirus patients and contain the further spread of the disease.

However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance and Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra said there was no shortage of funds with the government for tackling the coronavirus pandemic in the province. “It is a noble gesture and shows that people realize the need to spend funds on priority areas. If the government was short of funds, we would take up the offer by the MPAs,” he added.

He said funds were available to procure whatever was needed to cope with the situation in the fight against the Covid-19. He pointed out that procurement of personal protection equipment costing Rs2 billion has been ordered to meet the needs of doctors and support staff and steps were being taken to establish testing laboratories for coronavirus at Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Abbottabad, Kohat and also at the Lady Reading Hospital and Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar.

Lawmaker Tufail Anjum, who made the proposal for diverting the MPAs funds to the health sector, told The News that he had in mind the more than Rs560 million released by the KP government to Mardan’s deputy commissioner for equal allocation to the lawmakers from the district. “I made the point that the priority right now is to augment the resources available at the health sector to tackle the threat posed by the coronavirus. I felt that the Rs80 million which each Mardan MPA would get for executing small schemes like paving streets, building rooms in schools, etc this fiscal year could be better spent on procuring medical equipment including ventilators and personal protection equipment for protecting the medical staff,” he added.

Tufail Anjum, who is serving his second term as MPA from PK-49 Mardan, said he had discussed the issue with the deputy commissioner also and was seeking support from other MPAs elected from the district to put the idea of funds diversion to the heath sector into practice.

Zahir Shah Toru, who took the initiative to organize the teleconference and had been involved in social welfare activities before his election as the first-time MPA in the July 2018 general election, said Rs560 million was readily available with the deputy commissioner Mardan and could be quickly diverted to cope with the emergency situation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We can sacrifice our share of development funds for the common good of the community. Our schemes in our constituencies can wait,” he argued.

Atif Khan, who was tipped to become the chief minister after the 2018 polls but was edged out by Mahmood Khan, pointed out that the teleconference had helped highlight important issues concerning healthcare in his native Mardan. “As Taimur Saleem Jhagra, the finance and health minister also participated in the teleconference he heard the proposals such as diversion of MPAs development funds to the health sector and establishment of coronavirus testing laboratory in Mardan. We are going to pursue these issues,” he added.