ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The draft law for the establishment of a drug regulatory authority has been submitted to the ministry of law, justice and human rights for further processing, Health Minister Nasir Khan said on Thursday.

Replying to a question of Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali during question hour in the National Assembly, the minister said as soon as the law was enacted the authority would start functioning.

The draft has been prepared in consultation with all stakeholders including the provincial governments.

Responding a question of Kaniz Aisha Munawar, the minister said the National Institute of Health provided facilities for skin prick test, vaccination and counselling on allergy.

In reply to a question of Inayat Begum, he said JICA had provided Rs2,184,000 to the ministry of health, USAID had provided $1,500,000 to WHO and GFATM had provided $624,550 to the National AIDS Control Programme during the year 2006-07 for control of TB in the country.

Replying to a question of Yasmeen Rehman, he said during financial year 2005-06, the prime minister’s programme for prevention and control of hepatitis B and C had established 60 sentinel sites all over the country against a target of 50.

Out of the total 60 sentinel sites, 20 were set up in Punjab, 11 in Sindh, 10 in NWFP, 11 in Balochistan, two each in AJK, FANA, FATA and Islamabad. A total of 3,333 patients of hepatitis C and 323 patients of hepatitis B were provided free of cost treatment.

To a question of Maulana Ahmed Ghafoor Ghawas, federal minister for foreign affairs Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said the German government had extended cooperation to a investigating team that visited Germany from May 10-12 2006 to probe the cause of death of Pakistani student Aamir Cheema.

The team witnessed the autopsy and was present during its entire proceeding, the minister said, adding that the German government had also shared results of the autopsy with the team.

The German police facilitated the team’s meeting with the deputy governor of jail in Berlin and inspection of the cell where Mr Cheema was detained and died. The German police also facilitated interviews with the relatives of the deceased, university fellows who had provided accommodation to him during his stay in Berlin and the translator who had read out the charges to Mr Cheema on March 12, 2006 at the police station.

Mr Kasuri said the German government had also conveyed its willingness to respond to the questionnaire prepared by the investigation team.