Emergency Health Bill to Parliament by March: AG Muria

WORK on the public emergency health bill is on track.

Attorney-General John Muria (Jnr) said the timeline for the Bill to be submitted to Parliament is on the first week of March.

Mr Muria said consultations will continue until February and final work on the Bill should be done before the first week of March.

“We are on track and work is progressing very well,” he said.

The Attorney-General said consultations were also held last week with diplomatic missions, civil society groups, Guadalcanal Province, HCC and other stakeholders.

He said the upcoming consultations will also include other provincial governments and private sector.

The objective of the Bill is to give the government the authority to take the right action at the right time to respond effectively to the progress of health emergencies including the corona virus outbreak.

Generally, the Public Health Emergency Bill is intended protect our country and people from future pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks either internationally or domestically and will replace the declaration of a state of public emergency.

ENDS//