Staff Reporter Lahore
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that work on seven new mother and child hospitals has been started in Lahore, Layyah, Rajanpur, Sialkot, Bahawalnagar, Attock and Mianwali. New medical colleges and universities will also be established, phase-wise, while the University of Child Health was being established at Children’s Hospital in Lahore.
He stated this after inaugurating the 15-day typhoid vaccination drive here on Wednesday. During the first phase starting from February 1, children from 9 months to 15 years will be vaccinated in 12 districts while the second phase will begin in the month of May to vaccinate 1.93 crore children in urban areas of 24 other districts.
Buzdar thanked the stakeholders for their cooperation and hoped the typhoid conjugate vaccine will protect the children from the fatal disease. The PTI led government is working to improve the quality of life of the common man and special attention was given to the health of mother and child, he added.
He said, it is sanguine that the scope of Sehat Sahulat Card Programme has been extended to 36 districts and free medicines were also being provided to patients through Insaf Medicine Card facility. Similarly, the CM added that 8 billion rupees were being spent on upgradation of hospitals in Attock, Chiniot, DG Khan, Mianwali, Jhang, Kasur, Lodhran and Rajanpur through the prime minister’s health initiative. Alongwith it, around 32,000 recruitments have been made through PPSC to overcome staff shortage in hospitals, the CM said.
While giving details about the health sector reforms, the chief minister said 20 new bio-safety level-3 labs have increased the daily corona testing capacity from 400 to 25,000 as the government spent 14 billion rupees on the treatment of coronavirus patients. Four such labs will be established soon, he added.
Meanwhile, Usman Buzdar said that 10 billion rupees were earmarked for the procurement of the latest medical equipment for government hospitals.
