ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Aamir Mehmood Kiyani on Friday banned lunches and refreshments during meetings in the ministry and said the amount wasted on these would be spent on the welfare of the poor.

“We have to abandon the business as usual approach and work diligently, wholeheartedly and with a commitment to achieve goals in line with the vision of the new government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan. We must practice austerity and simplicity, reducing expenditure which should be diverted towards the welfare of the common man,” he told officials of the ministry.

An official, requesting not to be quoted, said in the past it was a normal practice to arrange lunch and refreshment for all participants of meetings.

Amount wasted on serving food to participants of meetings will be spent on welfare of the poor, Aamir Mehmood says

“A number of times it happened that officers arranged lunch for their get together. Sometimes a few journalists were also invited and lunches were arranged for them. Interestingly, in those meetings the high-ups leaked information against other ministries,” he said.

“On Friday, a meeting was held regarding Prime Minister’s National Health Insurance Programme in which even tea was not served to the participants. It was a good message to officers but I believe that the minister should take steps to curb corruption in the ancillary departments rather than taking steps such as stopping refreshments which may make him popular but would save just a few thousands rupees,” he said.

An official statement claimed that the minister asked the officers of his ministry to redouble efforts to bring a tangible improvement to the health situation in the country.

Mr Kiyani discussed the scope of work and duties with each officer and directed them to focus their attention on bringing a visible change in their assigned areas of work.

He also directed them to identify bottlenecks and hurdles in the way of achieving their goals which would be taken up and expeditiously resolved.

Later while receiving a briefing on the health card programme, the minister said they have to ensure that best facilities were provided to the poorest of the poor and that every effort was made to ensure efficiency and transparency.

He directed that enhancement of scope of the health card may be expedited so that the service could be made available to the deserving people across Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2018