Punjab health budget increased by 27pc: Buzdar

LAHORE: Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that 27 percent increase has been made in the health sector budget, along with start of several health projects in remote areas during the current financial year.

He was presiding over a meeting of the Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department at his office here Friday to review departmental performance and progress made by the department on mega health projects.

The chief minister said that every possible effort would be made for betterment of the health sector. He regretted that the backward areas had been neglected in the past. He said the PTI government was following the policy of composite development in every sector.

Usman Buzdar directed the authorities concerned that Nishtar Hospital-2 project in Multan should be completed at the earliest. He said that he would visit the hospital site during his next visit to Multan District. The hospital is being built with around Rs8 billion.

The chief minister said that the hospital’s construction would be completed by the next year, adding that matters of the Institute of Cardiology, Dera Ghazi Khan, would also be settled as soon as possible while a new building of Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Rahim Yar Khan would be constructed at an estimate cost of Rs6 billion, he added. Usman Buzdar ordered for expediting work on the project. He said the hospital building in Gujranwala would also be completed soon.

A plan has also be devised for establishment of an Institute of Blood Diseases, he added. The emergency of Services Hospital will be upgraded as a state-of-the-art facility and the Punjab government would provide required resources in this regard.