PARLIAMENT'S STANDING Finance Committee (SFC) which is examining the Estimates of Expenditure for the 2003/04 fiscal year wrapped up its deliberations at 4:30 yesterday morning, following a marathon session that got under way just after 10 a.m. the previous day. There were no amendments to the Estimates and Dr. Omar Davies, Finance and Planning Minister, will next Thursday tell the nation how the Budget is to be financed. John Junor, Health Minister, disclosed at the committee meeting that the Government was contemplating setting up a Catastrophic Fund, which would, among other things, be able to assist needy Jamaicans seeking to access health care. Likely beneficiaries are those in need of emergency surgery but unable to foot the bill. Mr. Junor said the administration was still working out the logistics of such a fund. HELP THE KIDS "We (the Government) are contemplating the setting up of such a fund but its operation is something I would like to be advised on by the actuaries and to work out very carefully, questions of eligibility etc." Mr. Junor said. He would not be drawn on how much money would likely be placed into such a fund. Audley Shaw, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Spokesman on Finance, urged the Minister to seek an amendment to the Estimates to include a provision of $5 million to cover the cost of surgery for 30 children in need of heart sur-gery. His wish was not granted but Mr. Junor ex-plained that the Catastrophic Fund would likely deal with such cases. Mr. Shaw said he understood the need for the acturial studies but argued that "people's lives are at risk". He told the committee that a little girl in his Manchester North East constituency died recently because her parents could not afford the cost of surgery. UTMOST URGENCY Until the fund comes on stream, children with cardiac problems will continue to benefit from the overseas-based Heart Menders organisation which has committed to putting in additional facilities at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, Kingston. The Minister said Heart Menders had also committed to allowing its specialists to visit Jamaica more frequently to do the paediatric cardiac cases. Not satisfied, Mr. Shaw said: "This matter needs to be given and treated with the greatest and utmost urgency." The committee was originally scheduled to sit for three days, but with Thursday being "constituency day" for most Members of Parliament, both Opposition and Government members agreed to conclude the proceedings a day early. LONGEST SITTING IN HISTORY The result was an extended session which has been described as perhaps the longest sitting in the Parliament's history. Shirley Lewis, Clerk of the Houses of Parliament, told The Gleaner that Wednesday's sitting was the longest in the nearly nine years she has been at Gordon House. "Since I've been here that's the latest I've seen them sit," Mrs. Lewis said. "Not in my regime. Not since I've been here since 1994. Not even the sitting of the House, we've gone late but not that late." She pointed to the censure motion brought by the JLP in March against Dr. Davies. On that occasion, the House sat until about 12:30 a.m. When the vote was taken, the Government used its majority to defeat the motion. Yesterday, Derrick Smith, Leader of Opposition Business in the House, said the JLP was not opposed to wrapping up the proceedings a day early. He acknowledged that most MPs visit their constituencies on a Thursday and perhaps would not have been available for a third day. "If you can get to finish the work earlier rather than later then that is good," Dr. Peter Phillips, Leader of Government Business in the House, said. "We were making certain we didn't leave it to the point where we run the risk that we don't get it through in the three days and once we were close enough last night (Wednesday), the members figured that it was better to go through rather than not getting a quorum on the third day," he told The Gleaner. "So I thought it was more prudent to proceed in that way."