Senate Passes Six Bills Of Public Importance

The upper house on Monday unanimously passed six bills of public importance while two bills have been deferred for sometime

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Mar, 2024) The upper house on Monday unanimously passed six bills of public importance while two bills have been deferred

for sometime.

Senator Mohsin Aziz while presenting the bill to amend the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act, 2021 [The Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) (Amendment) Bill, 2022], as passed by the Standing Committee, said that database of rapist should be maintained and shared across the country with all law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on them.

He said that rapist after punishment freely move in the society and can attempt to henious act again.

The Senate has unanimously passed the bill and send it to the national assembly.

Senator Sania Nishtar presented the Bill for provision of establishment of the Pakistan Emergency Treatment Coverage Programme [The Pakistan Emergency Treatment Coverage Programme Bill, 2023], as passed by the standing committee. Highlighting the salient feature of the bill, Senator Sania said that poor patients brought to emergencies of the public sector hospitals are often deprived of basic facilities. The patients are usually asked to buy kits from their own pocket for medical treatment. She further said that the Bill intends to ensure the provision of free of cost treatment on urgent basis to the poor patients for saving their lives.

The Bill was unanimously passed and sent it to the national assembly for further passage.

Senator Sania Nishtar also presented a bill to the house for provision of mandatory screening for hypertension and to strengthen health systems particularly at Primary care to treat hypertension in Pakistan [The Pakistan Opportunistic Screening and Treatment of Hypertension Bill, 2023]. The Bill was passed by the Standing Committee, after some deliberations. Senator Sania said that high blood pressure is a "Silent Killer" and the people are unaware of this fact, therefore, the screening for hypertension should be made mandatory in all the hospitals.

The upper house passed the bill unanimously and send it to the national assembly for further consideration.

Senator Prof Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani, while presenting the bill to make provisions for protection of breast-feeding and nutrition for infants and young children [The Islamabad Capital Territory Protection of Breast-Feeding and Child Nutrition Bill, 2023], said that all the provincial assemblies passed the similar bill but unfortunately, it was not implemented in the Federal capital.

She said that breast feeding is very important for infants but mothers prefer bottle feeding to their newborn babies which causes many dangerous diseases in the infants. She said that breast feeding itself is a very important for the good health of mothers.

The upper house unanimously passed the bill and sent it to the national Assembly for further consideration.

Senator Fawzia Arshad presented a bill for the establishment of the International Institute of Technology, Culture and Health Sciences [The International Institute of Technology, Culture and Health Sciences Bill, 2024].

Senator Sadia Abbasi opposed the bill and said that higher education commission (HEC) has already expressed concerns over such legislation. She said that such institutes which have no basis, extorting the money from innocent students after running such type of the institutions.

The deputy chairman Senate asked the senator to present the descending note and passed the bill along with her note and sent it to the national assembly for further consideration.

Senator Fawzia Arshad presented another bill to further amend the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2000 [The National Database and Registration Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023].

In support of the bill, she argued that NADRA Ordinance was not amended since 2000 which causes many hurdles for provision of smooth services to the general public. She further said that amendments in the NADRA Ordinance will provide ease of doing business to the organization itself as well as to the general public.

The upper house unanimously passed the bill and sent it to the national assembly for further consideration.

The upper house also deferred the bill of Senator Fawzia and Senator Sania Nishtar to further amend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan [The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2022], (Amendment of Article 51).