By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday underlined the need for inculcating the spirit of fast decision-making in bureaucracy to improve service delivery and achieve the desired goals well in time.
He said that the slow decision-making process by the bureaucracy resulted in poor governance as well as hampering the progress of the country.
The President made these remarks while chairing a meeting of the Board of Governors of the National School of Public Policy (NSPP), at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The meeting was attended by the Special Secretary Finance Division Awais Manzur Sumra, Special Secretary Establishment Division, Asmat Tahira, Rector NSPP Dr Ijaz Munir, and Secretary of Executive Committee of BoG of NSPP Nadeem Mahbub.
Members of BoG Javed Sadiq Malik, Muneer Kamal, Zaid bin Maqsood, Muhammad Hanif Channa, and Dr Hafeez Ahmad Jamali attended the meeting via video link.
Speaking on the occasion, the President underlined the need for imparting modern knowledge and techniques to civil servants to ensure good governance and efficient service delivery.
He asked the Rector of NSPP to inculcate the spirit of fast decision-making among the civil servants getting training at NSPP, besides adopting best international training practices to improve the decision-making process as well as enhance the efficiency of the civil servants.
The Board of Governors approved the proposal to allow NSPP to hire young professionals as internees. The President advised that suitable and efficient internees may be hired in order to enhance the capacity of young professionals.
The meeting also approved the upgradation of Computer Operators from BPS-11 to BPS-16 with the change of nomenclatures as IT Officers in all National Institutes of Management in the country.
The Board also accorded approval to the proposal for adopting special dispensation for the employees in BPS-1 to BPS-16 as per the Finance Division’s Office Memorandum of 14 February 2023.
Meanwhile, President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday stressed upon further enhancement of effective and efficient role of lady health workers and midwives which would help reduce the pregnancy-related complications.
The president observed that so far lady health workers had access to 37 percent of the population of the country which was required to be increased.
The president was addressing the inauguration ceremony of Behbud Maternal and Children Hospital, Rawalpindi.
He said that there were no two opinions that provision of education and health were the responsibility of the state and urged other stakeholders to come forward and share their responsibility in this regard as well.
The president underlined that once society and economy had flourished, the focus was diverted to public health through different mediums, including the health insurance.
Those nations excelled which had focused on the key sectors of education and health, he added.
The president also expressed his concerns over the mortality rate during birth and said that desired steps had been taken across the globe in this regard.
The president appreciated the role of Behbud Association which had been striving for women’s empowerment, and promotion of education, health, handicrafts and culture at the national level.
The president opined that the Islamic society had accorded due significance to the role of women as they groomed the future generations.
He also mentioned the efforts of First Lady Begum Samina Alvi for women’s empowerment, rights of the people with disabilities and imparting of education to the out of school children.
The president lauded the passion of charity in the Pakistani nation which would be further enhanced with the active participation of different segments of society.
He said that the inclusion of nutrition package under the Benazir Income Support Programme and Ehasas Programme was a laudable step which would help overcome malnutrition issue among the children.
About practical steps at women’s empowerment, the president said there was no room for harassment in an Islamic society.
He also expressed his satisfaction that due to the effective breast cancer awareness campaign positive outcome had been felt as the large number of women were consulting doctors during the first stage of the disease.
President Behbud Association of Pakistan Abida Malik in her address highlighted the role of the association which centered around making of efforts for the women’s empowerment, besides shielding them from the fatal diseases.
She apprised that an endowment fund had been established by the association along with the establishment of a state-of-the-art hospital to provide free-of-cost health services to the women and children.
Earlier, the president and the first lady inaugurated the hospital. Members of the association and foreign diplomats also attended the ceremony.
