Groundbreaking ceremony of MNCH at Bhara Kahu held

Islamabad: It is our mission that every mother and child should be given healthcare facilities that they deserve and stone laying of Mother Neonate and Child Health (MNCH) Centre on World Health Day is an important step towards achieving our goal.

Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Aamer Mehmood Kiani expressed this while talking to guests on the stone laying ceremony of MNCH in Bhara Kahu on Monday.

He said the federal capital’s first mother and child hospital under the federal health ministry is being established where emergency obstetrics and newborn care services would be available to public round the clock. The MNCH is being established through SAARC Development Fund (SDF), he said.

The WHO country representative Dr Nima Abid Saeed and UNICEF Deputy Representative Miss Karen also attended the stone laying ceremony. They expressed their strong commitment for implementation of Primary Health Care (PHC) initiative in Pakistan for providing better health care services and achieving the target of universal health coverage specially focusing on mother neonate and child health care services.

The federal minister reiterated their government’s commitment and assurances for expanding health care to the People both in Urban and Rural Islamabad by developing more health infrastructures and increasing number of beds in the existing hospitals.

He said the 40-bedded mother and child hospital in Bhara Kahu would be equipped with modern healthcare facilities and it would be completed by December 31 this year. For universal health coverage, the government would bring all positive changes in the existing healthcare infrastructure to provide healthcare facilities equally to all segments of the society, he said.

The mothers deprived of basic amenities can not grow their children properly and that is why the provision of healthcare for mothers and newborns has been given top priority in the manifesto of ruling PTI, said the minister.

He said in less than one year, the initiatives and programs of the government would come into reality. The goals of development cannot be realized without taking concrete steps towards building a healthy nation, said the minister.