9 August
The 9th-day meeting of the Second Pyithu Hluttaw’s 13th regular session was held at the Pyithu Hluttaw meeting hall in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.
Tender calls delayed in Naga
First, Deputy Construction Minister U Kyaw Lin replied to a question raised by U Kyaw Htay, MP for Leshi constituency, asking the reason for delays in scrutinizing and approving tender applications on development projects by the governments of Sagaing Region and Naga Self-Administered Zone.
The Deputy Minister replied that the long vetting process to ensure every process from the tender application to issuing directives to respective departments in order to ensure transparency only gives the successful tender company two summer months to complete their task.
He said the poor roads in Naga delayed work past summer and into the months of April and May where the rainy season begins. Thus, they could only effectively make progress during the month of February, said the Deputy Minister.
He said they are working to ensure they can hand over the projects to tender winning companies as soon as open season begins to prevent these delays from occurring again, starting from the next financial year.
Dy Construction Minister replies to road infrastructure questions
Next, MP U Sai Thiha Kyaw of Mongyai constituency raised a question asking what plans have the relevant state/regional governments and ministries drawn up for the road and bridge projects handled by the Mongyai Township Department of Rural Road Development.
Deputy Minister U Kyaw Lin replied that six-mile Monyai-Narkho-Helut earthen road will be upgraded to bitumen in the later part of the 2020-2021 FY, and the bridges and ducts along it will be maintained as well.
The 12-mile Mongyai-Narwa earthen road had two miles upgraded to gravel in the 2018-2019 FY and a budget petition to upgrade another 3.4 miles, with three box culverts, has been submitted for the 2019-2020 FY, said the Deputy Minister.
He said a budget petition for upgrading the temporary bamboo bridge for Nant Har Creek has been submitted for Union Maintenance Fund for 2019-2020 FY.
Following this, Deputy Minister U Kyaw Lin and Deputy Minister U Soe Aung (Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement) answered to questions raised by other five MPs.
Motion urging greater collaboration on noncommunicable disease prevention
After this, MP Dr San Shwe Win of Yekyi constituency tabled a motion urging the Union government to arrange for active cooperation among the different ministries to effectively control noncommunicable diseases. MP U Aye Win of Ingapu constituency seconded the motion.
The motion states that ministry reports show there were 3 million inpatients, 12 million outpatients and 760,000 surgeries performed for kidney and liver transplants and heart surgeries during all three years the incumbent government has been in office.
The motion also states there has been annual increase in noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac-related complications and cancer, while communicable diseases have been spreading less and less. The motion states the number of deaths from noncommunicable diseases has risen from 48 per cent in 2014 to 52 per cent in 2017. It states aortic stenosis causes the most deaths while cancer comes in second.
The motion states that even though the Control of Tobacco law was enacted in 2016, there has been weak enforcement of it. It says that while production, sale and import of alcohol and opening of liquor stores are beyond the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Sports, the ministry has to deal with the related diseases that occur because of alcohol. In addition, the taxation of tobacco and alcohol is also separate from MoHS.
The motion suggests ensuring all relevant ministries follow existing laws and ensure proper taxation of tobacco and alcohol products and other related measures, especially properly educating the public, to combat the rise of noncommunicable diseases.
The Speaker called for the deliberation of the Hluttaw on the motion, received no opposition, put the motion forward for further debate, and called on MPs interested in discussing to enrol their names.
Medical degree, diploma bill
Similarly, the Speaker called for the deliberation of the Hluttaw on the Bill Committee’s report on the Myanmar Medical Degree & Diploma Bill put forward by the Health and Sports Development Committee. With no opposition raised, the Speaker announced that the amendments from the Bill Committee has been approved and will follow the procedures in the related bylaw. —Mawsi, Hmwe Kyu Zin
(Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)
