Punjab upgrading DHQs

Punjab Health Minister, Dr Tahir Ali Javed, has said that on the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the Punjab government was upgrading DHQ hospitals by posting specialist doctors and consultants for the provision of modern medical facilities to the rural masses in the province.
The final year trainee students of FCPS would be sent for training at DHQ hospitals of Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Sialkot, Khanewal Sargodha and Jhelum at first phase of the pilot project in collaboration with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP), he added.
He expressed these views while addressing delegation of doctors and people belonging to various walks of life at his residence here, on Sunday.
The Minister said necessary paraphernalia, including residential facilities for the training of FCPS students at concerned DHQs would be arranged by the Health Department as well as the district governments.
He said the Punjab Chief Minister had already enhanced monthly stipend for the FCPS trainees from Rs 6,250/- to 10,000/ for the 1250 trainees in the Punjab.
The Minister said the concerned district governments had shown keen interest to extend the postgraduate training programme to their districts and it was agreed to include major DHQs in the first phase and to place the fourth year trainees in these institutions for a period of six months to one year.
The Minister said provincial government had launched many projects for the healthcare facilities for mother and newborns to achieve the target and in this regard assistance and cooperation of federal institutions as well as international donors is being received.
He said a new project namely the Pakistan Initiative for Mother and Newborns (PAIMAN), is a five year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
He said the goal of the PAIMAN project is to reduce maternal and child mortality in Pakistan through viable and demonstrable initiatives in 10 districts of Pakistan.
The project would work on capacity building of public and private healthcare provider and structures within health systems and communities to ensure improvements and supportive linkages in the health care for women from home to the hospital, he maintained.
He said the expanded programme would also assist in scaling up the Ministry of Health's integrated Management of childhood illnesses; IMCI strategy in target District and other activities would include the strengthening of routine immunisations through improved community mobilisation.
Finally the expanded project would work to improve the supply of family planning services to reduce unmet need by ensuring that family planning services are an integral part of the maternal and child health services being offered in the PAIMAN districts, he concluded.