ISLAMABAD:Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Thursday expressed annoyance over delay in installation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM).

The committee expressed displeasure over the absence of health secretary and unanimously called off the meeting in protest and decided to take up the matter with the Senate chairman.

The meeting was held at the Parliament House with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Dr Mohammad Humayun Mohmand in the chair.

While giving a briefing about the implementation status of directions made in the previous meeting, which includes installation of MRI machine in NIRM and Pims, officials of both placessaid informed that MRI machines could not be installed due to closure of letters of credit (LCs).

Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party Senator Sardar Mohammad Shafiq Tareen reiterated that installation of an MRI machine had been pending since the last three years and the management was trying to make excuses to hide its incompetence.

Chairman of the committee said that access to quality health facilities was the basic right of every citizen and people could not be deprived of their basic right by making financial issues as an excuse.

Moreover, the committee expressed displeasure over the absence of health secretary and other representatives.

The Senate committee unanimously called off the meeting in protest and decided to take up the matter with the Senate chairman.

The meeting was attended by Senators Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, Fawzia Arshad, Sana Jamali, Dilawar Khan, Rubina Khalid, Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Mohammad Asad Ali Junejo and Sardar Mohammad Shafiq Tareen.

Special Secretary Health Mirza Nasir ud Din Mashhood Ahmad and other senior officers of relevant departments also attended the meeting.