Improvement of health sector CM’s top priority: Salman

LAHORE : Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said that Punjab government is taking fundamental steps to improve the health sector. The top priority of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz is to improve the health sector.

He said this while addressing the Second Surgical Conference at Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College Bahria Town on Saturday.

Dean Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute Prof Faisal Saud Dar, Principal Prof Nadeem Hafeez Butt, Prof Farooq Saeed Khan, Prof Fariha Farooq, Dr Sabir Ayaz Malik, Prof M Saleem, Dr Umair Farooq, Prof Atiqa, Prof Javed Raza Gardezi, Prof Majeed Chaudhry, faculty members, surgeons and a large number of ladies and gentlemen attended the conference.

Khawaja Salman Rafique, while addressing the participants, said that efforts are being made to ensure safe treatment and care of patients in hospitals. Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme, Dialysis Programme and Special Initiative for Transplant Programme are the flagship programmes of the Punjab government. Asia’s largest Nawaz Sharif Institute of Cancer Treatment and Research is being built in Lahore. State-of-the-art Nawaz Sharif Institutes of Cardiology are being built in Lahore and Sargodha. The shortage of doctors and nurses in hospitals is being met on priority basis.

Meanwhile, an important meeting was held in the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department under the chairmanship of Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique.

During the meeting, a detailed review of the Chief Minister's Children's Heart Surgery Programme was taken. CEO Punjab Health Initiative Management Company Dr. Ali Razaq gave a briefing in this regard.

Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique, while expressing his views, said that the CM's Children's Heart Surgery Programme is the flagship Programme of the Punjab government. More than 3,690 innocent children have been performed heart surgeries under the CM's Children's Heart Surgery Programme so far. Children's heart surgeries are being performed in six government and 11 private hospitals in Punjab. Under this unique health programme, free heart surgeries worth billions of rupees have been performed on children so far. One hundred percent transparency is being ensured in the Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme, he said.

The meeting was attended by Chairman Punjab Chief Minister’s Advisory Committee for Cardiology Dr Farqad Alamgir and Secretary Punjab Health Azmat Mahmood Khan. Special Secretaries Tariq Mahmood Rahmani and Zeeshan Shabbir Rana, Additional Secretary Technical Dr M Waseem, Additional Secretary Dr Waheed Asghar and Additional Secretary Admin.

The meeting was attended by Vice Chancellor University of Child Health Sciences Prof Masood Sadiq, CEO PHIMC Dr Ali Razaq and other officers. Representatives of government and private hospitals also participated on the occasion.