Govt keen to implement anti-narcotics laws: minister

LAHORE
Provincial Minister for Law, Excise & Taxation, Finance Mujataba Shuja ur Rehman Monday said the government is utilizing all available resources for strict implementation of anti-narcotics laws besides building public opinion against this menace.
Talking to various delegations of doctors and NGOs, the minister said it is also the collective responsibility of civil society to curb the menace of narcotics.
He said rehabilitation centres for the addicts especially for women and children are being established in the city to make Lahore a drug-free city. He said a drug-free city project has been launched with a cost of Rs 38.228 million and under the project public awareness/prevention, development of intelligence, treatment of drug addicts, rehabilitation of drug addicts and registration of addicts’ treatment clinics are the action plan of the project.
The minister said more research facilities would be provided to the young doctors of oncology and research registrars would be appointed where required. He said radiotherapy machines had been set up in the teaching hospitals whereas for the treatment of breast cancer, mammography machines have also been provided to teaching hospitals. He said the majority of the patients present with advance disease requiring palliative care, radiotherapy is the most cost effective modality for 90 per cent of these patients and Punjab has largest number of radiotherapy oncology treatment facilities in the country, follow up and multi-disciplinary combined clinics, teaching of oncology of under-graduate and postgraduate students, research clinical trials, fund raising for treatment of poor cancer patients were minutely observed and focused by the oncologists, he maintained.
Mujataba said focus is on the launching of high tech hospitals for the treatment fatal and complicated diseases and a modern institutes of Neuro Sciences is being established at a cost of Rs 2.74 billion in two phases. He said Institute of Neuro Sciences will provide opportunities for the promotion of neurosurgery in Punjab as well as training and updating the knowledge of doctors. The minister said Rs.650 million is being spent during current fiscal year and emergency ward of the INS will be made operational by April this year. He further told that 50 acres land at Burkey Road and required funds were being provided for construction of state-of-the-art kidney and liver transplant institute.
Mujataba said chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases which is 4th main cause of deaths in the world and 600 million people are victims of this disease in the world, whereas, according to WHO 3 million people die each year in the world due to these complications. He said that in Pakistan, more than 40 per cent of the adultery population over the age of 45 suffers from one form or the other of non-communicable disease, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer and the trend seems to be on the rise. This increasing trend is likely to double the burden of disease in developing countries and clearly is likely to have significant health economic implications as a result of cost of care and lost productivity costs, he concluded.