Doctors warned against referring patients to private clinics

LAHORE : Provincial Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir has said the Punjab government has provided free medicines to all district and tehsil headquarters hospitals across the province.

The minister said that strict action would be taken against the doctors who referred patients from government health facilities to private clinics and hospitals. He directed the authorities concerned to present the report in 24 hours in this regard. He expressed these views while addressing the 24th CEOs' Conference at a local hotel on Saturday. Federal State Minister for Health Saira Afzal Tarar also participated in conference.

Khawja Imran Nazir appreciated the performance of LHWs and LHVs and directed establishment of a special cell under his supervision to deal with the complaints of LHWs and LHVs. He said that Primary and Secondary Health Department would not take action against any officer on the basis of news story unless the department investigated the matter properly. The federal state minister for health appreciated the decision of bifurcation of Health Department in Punjab. She said it allowed more focus on preventive healthcare. She said that other provinces should also focus on health sector by following the Punjab model.

Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan reviewed the performance of CEOs of all districts. Health Services Director General Dr Akhter Rashid briefed the participants on the monitoring and evaluation system of health facilities.

distinction: Punjab University students, participated in National Youth Carnival (NYC) 2017, shown outstanding performance and won 11 gold and four silver medals, a team trophy and Rs3,00,000 cash prize as “National Championship Team”. According to a press release, the event was organised by the Directorate General of Sports and Youth Affairs, govt of KPK at Peshawar. The competitions were held in 30 different categories where teams from some 100 educational institutions across the country participated.

Punjab University students including Asim Zubair, Mueez Alvi, Ghufran Chishti, Muslim Shagan, Hafiz Asad Sharif, Ali Behzad, Sohaib Mugheera and Malik Ahsan bagged gold medals and Rs60,000 in calligraphy, short film, spot photography, photo essay, Urdu singing, Pashto singing, qra’at, n’at, Urdu essay writing and stand-up comedy respectively.