National Assembly and Senate Adopt Resolutions to Form Special Parliamentary Committee on PIMS Tragedy
ISLAMABAD: After the devastating fire in the hospital premises at PIMS, the two Houses of Parliament have acted quickly and the National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to set up an investigative committee, while the Senate approved a motion to make the committee.
Senator Sherry Rehman moved for the formation of a special committee on the tragedy of the PIMS in the Senate and was seconded. In his remarks on the floor, Senator Sherry Rehman said, “We are public servants and resolving the concerns of the public is our foremost duty. She added that the tragic death of infants in the PIMS case should not be “turned a blind eye” and asked, “Has anyone ever seen a spark coming out of an air conditioner? The real problem is not financial, it’s a governance problem.
Senator Pervaiz Rashid suggested that law should be passed to ensure that everyone, including a senator, a judge and a bureaucrat, gets medical treatment only at state-run hospitals. He said that any compulsion to ban elite private healthcare would have a drastic impact in a matter of months, and that officials against public healthcare should be fired.
National Assembly proceedings and calls to account.
In the National Assembly, Chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus on Child Rights Barrister Daniyal moved the resolution with great grief and sorrow over the tragic loss of innocent lives in the recent fire at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
The resolution severely criticized the disaster and raised alarm over government’s negligence in causing the disaster and called for serious legal measures against all those responsible for the disaster. It also called on the authorities to make sure that all hospitals observe strict fire safety regulations and have effective emergency response plans in place to ensure that such catastrophic events will not repeat in the future, especially in nurseries and children’s wards.
In addition, the house gave approval to the motion to establish a Joint Special Parliamentary Committee of the National Assembly and Senate on the PIMS tragedy. Opposition members have been invited by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar to get actively involved in the Parliamentary Committee.
Discussions and protests against the government.Protests and objections to the government.
In the concurrent sessions, there were heated discussions with members of the treasury and opposition calling for independent investigations, accountability of those responsible, and broad-ranging systemic changes. Members of parliament asked tough questions about hospital safety measures and the initial response by the government to the crisis.
PTI leader Asad Qaiser urged the immediate resignation of Health Minister Mustafa Kamal saying that he has no justification in staying in office. He also pointed out the incompetence of the administration in Islamabad and urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to quit.
Barrister Gohar urged for clear and fair investigations and added that steps need to be taken to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. He said that there were no doctors or nurses at the time of the fire in the ward and that newborns were locked inside. Besides, Barrister Gohar insisted that the money assigned to the families should be substantial so that there would be adequate compensation to those who had lost their loved ones.
Government Response and proposals for Open Accountability.
In response to the calls for compensation, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has told the house that the federal government has announced financial assistance to Rs 5 million per family of the relatives of the deceased children.
A meeting of the Standing Committee will be held on Monday, during which the Minister of State for Interior will make an official report, said Khawaja Asif. Advocating parliamentarians to be present and lay down their recommendations, Khawaja Asif observed that it is the basic responsibility of parliament to hold people to account, particularly in the context of gross negligence. He said investigations of many previous tragedies have languished for years, and over time, public interest has waned.
“Deliberate attempts are often made to drag out investigations and make them a non-issue in order to keep them out of the public consciousness, Khawaja Asif said, pointing out that the PIMS tragedy should not be made to appear as something that happens every few years with expressions of sorrow, followed by no accountability. He urged the committee’s proceedings to be held publicly, so that the whole nation could see Parliament take the responsible parties to task.
Dr. Mahesh Kumar (PPP) MNA and Chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Health repeated that a day earlier, the committee had visited the PIMS and found there were stark contradictions in the statements made by doctors, nurses and hospital staff. One doctor said the fire began with a spark from an air conditioner, but the nurses on duty said they didn’t see anything spark.