As per this estimation in 2013, she said that HCV cases were around 10.5 million and in 2017 HCV cases swelled to around 12.5 million. About the future strategies, she said that awareness campaign has been launched, adding that the disease can be tackled once behaviors are changed. She said that strong media campaigns are being planned to create awareness about risk factors of disease and how to prevent them.
She further said that all related programmes like national blood transfusion authority, HIV AIDS, EPI, MNCH etc. are being taken on board so that each programme handles its component on hepatitis and reports back to Programme. She said that provinces are being sensitized to have infection control programme which will cater to needs of all programmes.
Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif told the House that as many as 10,715 Pakistanis are languishing in jails abroad in various countries under different charges. In Saudi Arabia, he said that a total of 3,087 are currently in various jails while 2,710 Pakistanis are also in the UAE jails under different charges. In Bangladesh, he said that 40 Pakistanis while 226 are Malaysian jails, he added.
About the mechanism of the government to maintain the record, he said that on the basis of information received from the host authorities, all Pakistan Missions abroad maintain official record of all Pakistani individuals arrested/detained/convicted. He said that the record is updated regularly and also shared with this ministry and other departments concerned in Pakistan.
However, he said that due to stringent local privacy laws and individual rights, most of the European countries do not share information of detainees. About the legal assistance to Pakistanis in jails abroad, he said Pakistan Community Welfare and Education Fund (PCW&EF), being administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is utilized to extend legal assistance to Pakistanis detained abroad, including payment of lawyers' fees, fines and cost of repatriation of destitute Pakistani prisoners. He said that an Inter-Ministerial Commission (IMC) with representation from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of OP&HRD, has been established by the government to consider the cases of destitute Pakistani prisoners for legal and financial assistance.
To another question, the Foreign Minister said that a total 36,832 Pakistanis prisoners have been released and repatriated to Pakistan during the last four years. Minister of for Federal Education and Professional Training Baligh-ur-Rehman informed the House that due to effective measures of the government the net enrolment rate of schoolchildren has improved from 68 percent to 77 percent in last four years. He said that an additional capacity of about five million children has been created to enroll children in public sector schools across the country.
He said that about four million out of school children has been enrolled in schools. He said free primary education is being provided in all public sector schools across Pakistan and provincial governments are providing required funding for this purpose. He said that Punjab government has incentivized parents of children working on brick kilns in the province for sending their children to schools.