KARACHI: The civil society organizations criticized ‘mini-budget’ and raised suggestions for Ministry of Finance and National Assembly. Delaying tax on sugar sweetened beverages is double edge sword, hitting public health and economy of the country.
This has been said in the media talk by civil society organizations here at local hotel organized by Pakistan National Heart Association (PANAH). Sana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary and Director Operations of PANAH hosted the event. Munawar Hussain, Consultant Food Policy Program at Global Health Advocacy Incubator, Prof Dr Abdul Basit, General Secretary Diabetic Association of Pakistan and other addresses the workshop. The media session was attended by large number of representatives of civil society organizations working on child health, nutrition and child rights , Director NCDs Dr Samrah Mazhar, Coordinator Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians Dr Ghulam Raza, National Coordinator Child Rights Movement Zohra Naqvi, General Secretary Burhani Foundation Murtaza Burhan, Advocate Ikhlaq Awan, Chairperson Fatima Malik Welfare Trust Fatima Malik, senior Journalist Khalid Chud ,Prof Rashid Sidhu, Dr Ayesha Sana, Coordinator Women Wing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Islamabad Rohi Hashmi and other civil society and a large number of journalists participated.
The Civil Society Alliance meeting started with recitation from Holy Quran.
Sana Ullah Ghumman, General Secretary and Director Operations of PANAH welcomed the participants. He raised his concern and said that delaying tax on sugar sweetened beverages will increase obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and other non-communicable diseases in the country. He said that sugar sweetened beverages are double edged sward which is damaging people’s health, increasing mortality and hitting economy of our country. Director NCDs Dr Samrah Mazhar said that sugary drinks are not our priority of life, we should choose healthy diet, taxes will deteriorate the situation of diabetes and other NCDs in the country. We should ensure the access to insulin and other treatment services to control diabetes.
Advocate Ikhlaq Awan and Roohi Hashmi said that our law and policy makers should consider increasing higher taxes on all type of sugary drinks covering flavoured milk to sodas, juices and energy drinks. However, he welcomed the increase of tax on flavoured milk in the ‘mini-budget’. General Secretary Burhani Foundation Murtaza Burhani and other participants said that flavoured milk are loaded with high amount of sugar and are increasing child obesity and other diseases. He shared that overweight and obesity are risk factors for 13 of the 15 major types of cancer, increases risk of heart diseases and diabetes. Decreasing SSB consumption can reduce the prevalence of obesity and diet-related diseases
Munawar Hussain, Consultant Food Policy Program at Global Health Advocacy Incubators said that fiscal policies have important role for setting priorities for public health.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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