Maryam inspects city cleanliness, hospital facilities

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif paid a surprise visit to various areas of Lahore early Monday morning to review cleanliness efforts on the city’s roads and in the markets under “Suthra Punjab Programme”.

The chief minister also visited a field hospital in Harbanspura as well as Jinnah Hospital to take stock of available medical facilities. During Jinnah Hospital’s visit, she ordered the suspension of the Medical Superintendent (MS) of the hospital over complaints of mismanagement. During her visit to various roads and markets of the city, she inspected cleanliness conditions.

While visiting the field hospital in Harbanspura, she checked the availability and quality of medicines, and interacted with patients and inquired about the facilities available in the field hospital.

The chief minister directed that the supply of medicines at Punjab’s government hospitals and immediate payment of government hospitals’ dues must be ensured. She further directed that immediate steps must be taken for the provision of free medicines to government hospitals.

She also chaired a special meeting to review the administrative affairs of Mayo Hospital. She instructed that the list of medicines should be displayed at every government hospital along with the installation of electronic boards for the list of medicines.

The chief minister also advised for activating and highlighting “Maryam Nawaz Complaint Counters” in all the government hospitals for the convenience of patients, besides providing mist fans in the open waiting areas.

On the directive of Maryam Nawaz, a feedback will be taken by calling patients. She instructed that chairs and benches should be provided in the waiting rooms. She also directed the relevant stakeholders to visit the hospitals on a daily basis and prepare a checklist report. “More than one organisation will prepare a checklist to know the actual situation of hospitals. The checklist will include doctors, staff attendance, free medicines, lab tests, biomedical equipment.”

The chief minister also directed that the monitoring of waiting lists for operations and tests in the public hospitals must be ensured. “Availability of parking facility, cafeteria and wheelchairs will also be checked on a daily basis.”

The meeting took a decision in principle to remove worn out curtains which cause infection in hospitals and the installation of blinds instead. It was agreed to conduct a quality audit of the labs of government hospitals. The ‘Healthcare Commission’ will be assigned a task in this regard. The chief minister also sought a plan for the ‘Medical City Project’

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, during her visit to Jinnah Hospital, ordered the suspension of MS from service for “committing mismanagement”. She asked the principal of Jinnah Hospital to resign from his post. Maryam Nawaz Sharif received many complaints during her surprise visit to Jinnah Hospital.

The chief minister expressed her indignation over the complaints of patients being deprived of medicines despite their availability in the medicine store. She also visited Jinnah Hospital’s emergency ward.

The chief minister interacted with patients and their attendants in the emergency ward. She checked medical prescriptions of the patients and medicines being given to them. An elderly patient profoundly prayed for the well-being of Maryam Nawaz Sharif.

The chief minister hugged the female patient and consoled her. She inquired from the patients about the availability of medicines and other facilities including medical tests.

The patients at Jinnah Hospital complained about not getting medicines in the emergency ward and highlighted various other issues. The chief minister also reviewed cleanliness arrangements at the hospital. She expressed displeasure over the non-availability of medicines in the emergency ward.