Request for increase in health budget tabled to PM

Islamabad : While pledging transformational changes in the health sector, particularly in public sector hospitals where patients are generally denied appropriate attention, treatment and respect, Minister for Health Aamer Mehmood Kiani claimed having tabled a request to the Prime Minister for increasing the country’s health budget to 2 per cent of the GDP in the next budget.

Addressing a symposium on ‘Transforming Health Care’ here at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Friday, Aamer appreciated the executive director of PIMS Dr. Amjad for bringing about improvements, commissioning needed equipment, and renovating dilapidated wards, but maintained that a lot still needs to be done for improved patient services and care. President Arif Alvi was the chief guest.

“Patients should be treated with respect. Our vision is to strengthen PIMS as a premier tertiary care institute in academics, research and innovative clinical ground-breaking procedures,” Aamer stated at the symposium, which focuses on current research, technological advances, and hands-on practice through training workshops for medical, dental and nursing professionals and postgraduate students.

Aamer pledged to turn Islamabad into a model health city. “We want to introduce a pro-poor health system, starting from Islamabad district, as a model to revive people’s confidence in the public sector’s capacity to deliver quality healthcare. Concrete steps have been taken to improve the health sector,” the Minister stated, promising vital improvements in the near future. Referring to the four new hospitals to be built in the outskirts of Islamabad, the Minister assured that construction work of the hospital in Taramri Chowk would begin next month.

“Advancements in medical profession are based on continuous research and education. Our aim is to improve the quality of medical education and training—both at the under-graduate as well as the postgraduate levels and also to promote a culture of evidence-based practice of clinical service delivery,” the Minister stated while also promising upgradation of basic health units in Islamabad.