February 11; Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has issued a set of comprehensive policies on availability and use of Coronavirus Vaccination and management of impact of COVID-19 on Economy and Education.
In an exclusive working session of the party’s policy planning wing, Mr. Mussadiq Ghumman, Central Joint Secretary, Dr. Nausheen Hamid, MNA, Parliamentary Secretary National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination, President Insaf Women Wing, PTI and Dr. Talat Anwar, Secretary Economic Affairs of the party, discussed party’s draft policies with party members. The finalized PTI Policies on Coronavirus Vaccination, Economy and Education under COVID-19 were also released to the media in a press talk after the session.
The party’s policy on Coronavirus Vaccination states that the Government of Pakistan aims to achieve herd immunity by vaccinating 70 percent of the eligible population in 2021. It states that approximately 100 million Pakistanis are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine as per global guidelines, adding that, the government already has enough doses secure to vaccinate approximately 30 million people by September – almost 50% of target. Frontline healthworker will be vaccinated first. The policy highlights that the vaccine would be administered free of cost by public health facilities. The policy emphasis that 578 Adult Vaccine Counters have been established and the government has capacity to vaccinate 40,000 persons per day. The policy states that clear criteria have been defined for frontline healthcare workers after consultation with all provincial stakeholders and Resource Management System (RMS) has been set up so they could be registered through healthcare facilities. In this regard, a National Immunization and Management System is ready for registration and tracking of the entire population of the country.
PTI’s policy on Education under COVID-19 states that during school closures the Federal Government was able to move swiftly to offer digital learning content through ‘TeleSchool’. The content on the teleschool is provided free of cost by major Edtech partners including Sabaq Foundation, Taleemabad, The Citizens Foundation (TCF), Punjab IT Board (PITB), Allama Iqbal Open University, and Knowledge Platform for the duration of this crisis, the policy highlights. The policy on education states that the government built national consensus and coordination through the platform of Inter-provincial Education Ministers’ Conference and took decisions after consultations. The government was able to generate more than USD 22 millions of soft loans and grants through an active and assertive interaction with development partners to deal with academic losses and take safe school responses, the policy states, adding that the government secured USD 20 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and USD 200 million soft loan from the World Bank (WB). The policy states that the government issued National Guideline for Safe Reopening of Educational Institutes after first wave of the pandemic.
The policy on Economy under COVID-19 states that to mitigate the adverse effects on the economy, Prime Minister, Imran Khan announced on March 24, 2020 a fiscal stimulus package of Rs1130 billion to support the economy and protect the weak segments of the population in particular the daily wagers and the poor labours. From the start, Prime Minister, Imran Khan realized the risk of poverty and hunger especially among the daily wagers and labours, the policy states, adding, the government moved to “smart lockdown” by allowing partial business and economic activities which has been successful in mitigating the effects of recession and unemployment in Pakistan. The policy states that despite the fact that inflation has come down to 5.7% in January 2021 from the highest rate of 14.6% in January 2020, it still needs to be monitored carefully since it was driven through supply side factors. The policy states that the government and Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to monitor prices in supply chain in particular the wholesale market where prices are mostly inflated due to collusion of middleman. The policy states that the prices of petroleum product should not be increased frequently to control inflation and necessary rise in prices of petroleum products due to international price rise should be absorbed in the taxes and levy on petroleum product. Other measures to manage the impact of COVID-19 on economy highlighted in the policy include maintaining low interest rate to stimulate GDP growth and employment, cash transfer to poor women through Kafaalat programme and launch a poverty alleviation programme via micro-loans.
PTI member who attended the policy planning session included: Mr. Abbas Raza, Secretary Good Governance AJK Region, PTI; Dr. Ali Haider, Secretary Good Governance KPK, PTI; Mr. Arif Rind, General Secretary Insaf Youth Wing, PTI; Mr. Arsalan Faisal Mirza, Secretary Finance, Western Sindh Region, PTI; Mr. Asif Bangash, Insaf Youth Wing; Mr. Bilal Ahmed, MPA, Parliamentary Leader Sindh Assembly, PTI; Ch. Raheel Manzar, Secretary Execution (Education & Training), PTI; Mr. Imran Aslam, Deputy General Secretary, Insaf Welfare Wing, North Punjab, PTI; Mr. Maula Bukhsh Soomro, President Insaf Youth Wing; Mr. Nasir Salman, Political Advisor to President Central Punjab, PTI; Dr. Nazia Niaz, Additional General Secretary, AJK; Ms. Rukhsana Bhatti, Member Standing Committee on Discipline and Accountability, PTI; Ms. Sadia Tabrayz Agha, Vice President, Insaf Women Wing; Ms. Sarwat Saba, Information Secretary, Women Wing GB Region, PTI; Senator Seemi Ezdi, General Secretary Insaf Women Wing, PTI; Mr. Shafiq Afridi, Insaf Youth Wing; Dr. Shahid Zia, Secretary Policy & Planning, PTI; Mr. Shahzaman Alam, President, Insaf Sports & Culture Wing; Ms. Shunila Ruth, MNA, Parliamentary Secretary-Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony President Insaf Minority Wing; Dr. Talat Anwar, Secretary Economic Affairs; Mr. Wali Muhammad Mugheri, Deputy General Secretary, Insaf Youth Wing and Zulekha Mandokhel, Regional President Balcochistan, PTI.
The policy can be accessed by clicking the link below.
