CM approves committee to improve healthcare system

LAHORE: The Punjab government has constituted a 17-member advisory committee on giving recommendations for the improvement of the healthcare system in the province.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz approved the establishment of a committee in the health department for setting priorities, matters requiring urgent attention and strengthening medical facilities.

The committee's recommendations will be crucial in the establishment of new hospitals in Punjab, expediting ongoing activities in strengthening existing hospitals and public facilities. Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Kh Salman Rafiq and Primary and Secondary Healthcare Kh Imran Nazir will be Chairman/Convener and Co-Convener respectively while the secretary health will be secretary of the committee. The secretary communications, secretary finance, King Edward Medical University (KEMU) VC Prof Mahmood Ayaz, University of Child Health (UCHS) VC Prof Masood Sadiq and well-known experts,, including Dr M Adnan Khan, Prof Dr Ali Ayaz Sadiq, Dr Azhar Mehmood Kayani, Shahzad Salim, Dr Haroon Latif Khan, Dr Ain Majeed, Shahab Anwar Kh and Dr Zahid Pervez are the members of the committee.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique has said the journey of serving people under the leadership of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has started.

The minister was speaking at a meeting to review situation of government hospitals held in the Department of Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education. He said steps will be taken to implement hundred per cent roadmap of improving the health system on behalf of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Secretary Health Ali Jaan, Special Secretaries Syed Wajid Ali and Raja Mansoor, Additional Secretaries Agha Nabeel, Zahida Azhar and Dr Hafiz Shahid Latif, Chief Planning Officer Abdul Haq, Deputy Secretaries and officers of the Department of Primary and Secondary Health Care participated through a video link. Secretary Health Ali Jan and other officers briefed the meeting. Secretary Health Ali Jan and his team are working hard for the improvement of the health system. Facilitation should be created for the patients coming to the government hospitals. He said MS should provide better medical facilities to the patients and improve the waste management system. Ongoing development projects in the government hospitals would be completed on time, he added.

Thalassemia centres to be set up in every division

Provincial Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazeer has said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the government will establish state-of-the-art thalassemia centres in every division to provide blood transfusion facilities for thalassemia children.

Blood Transfusion Authority was established during PMLN past tenure but the succeeding government failed to implement the legislation on thalassemia for prevention and timely treatment of thalassemia, he added. Kh Imran Nazeer expressed these views while inaugurating the newly-established New Surgical Tower at Mansoor Riaz Trust Hospital. He said that the conducive environment would be provided for foreign investment in the health sector under public-private partnership. The minister also visited the general, thalassemia wards, and other departments of the trust hospital. There, a documentary was also shown to him about the medical facilities available in the hospital. He was told that 2,000 thalassemia children were given blood transfusions facility during the last five years.