PM AJK Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan takes notice of retiring MNCH program employees’ plight

MUZAFFARABAD, June 15 (SABAH): Taking notice of the problems of the retiring employees under the (MNCH) program, the Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan has issued instructions to bring the program on a normal budget.

Lauding the services of the employees working under the MNCH, the PM said that all the employees of the MNCH program were a valuable asset of the state. He said that the project would be brought on a normal budget. Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan asked the Public Health Secretary to resolve the issue on an urgent basis.

Prime Minister AJK Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan said that PTI has come to the government to serve the people and solve their problems. In order to create employment opportunities in the state, the PM said that the government’s thrust was to boost tourism and small-scale industry besides improving the region’s education and health sector. He said that the cottage industry and other sectors would also create employment opportunities. Highlighting the importance of health sector the PM said, “The government will also launch new projects for the development of health sector besides ensuring constant availability of doctors in all medical centers”. Pertinently, the employees working under MNCH program have been holding demonstrations all across the state demanding permanent employment.

The PM’s announcement generated a new wave of happiness amongst the protesting employees. The employees while hailing the PM’s decision termed it a great initiative to secure the future of thousands of families. The institution was established in 2007 in collaboration with a UK-based institute for maternal and child health in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. In AJK, more than 1,200 employees, who have been providing 24-hour service to people, have been working in different MNCH program centers for the past 15 years. In Pakistan all those employees working under the MNCH program were regularized, however, in AJK these employees were due to lose their jobs by the end of June this year.

Apart from the MNCH program employees, the Prime Minister’s initiative to regularise them (employees) is being widely appreciated by the people of Azad Kashmir.