Government once again fails to meet quorum in National Assembly

ISLAMABAD: With plans to table a mini-budget, the government once again failed to meet the quorum in the National Assembly for the third consecutive time on Monday.

At the onset of the sitting, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sheikh Fayyazuddin, while pointing towards the empty chairs of the treasury benches, said that it’s a matter of embarrassment for the opposition as well to look at empty chairs.

“We also come here from far-flung areas. Please also make sure there is presence in the House,” said the lawmaker.

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He also pointed out the quorum after which the Speaker of National Assembly, Asad Qaisar ordered a count. He suspended the sitting when it was found that the quorum was not in order.

Afterwards, the sitting restarted and the count was made again but the quorum was not in order and the sitting was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday at 3pm.

Pakistan has only 837 certified psychiatrists

Meanwhile to a question of a lawmaker the House was informed that Pakistan has only 837 medical practitioners in the field of psychiatry and neurology certified by the Pakistan Medical Commission.

According to the breakup 412 are in Punjab, while the psychiatrists to patients’ ratio in the province stand at 1:33,457 patients.

Likewise, there are 235 psychiatrists in Sindh while the psychiatrists to patients’ ratio stand at 1:24,162.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there are just 127 psychiatrists in the province while the psychiatrists to patients’ ratio stand at 1:31,562. There are only 43 psychiatrists in Balochistan and the psychiatrists to patients’ ratio stand at 1:34,553 in the province.

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Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) have a total of 18 psychiatrists and the psychiatrists to patients’ ratio in the areas stand at 1:42,527.

The psychiatrists to patient ratio is calculated by the health ministry based on the prevalence of several mental health cases in each province or region according to Global Burden of Diseases 2019.

The ministry stated that Pakistan utilises data from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) which provides data on annual basis.

Meanwhile, the ministry claimed that mental health disorders in Pakistan are far better than in other countries across the globe as well as within Asia. It claimed that Pakistan does not have the poorest mental health indicators in the world.