The World Health Organization (WHO) while acknowledging the Punjab Health department for successfully running the expanded programme of immunization (EPI) has assured that cooperation on strengthening of public health sector would continue. A delegation of WHO, led by Dr Hamid and Dr Muzafir Mirza met the provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, here on Friday and discussed different options to further strengthen the EPI.
Director EPI Punjab Dr Munir Ahmed briefed the delegation members about present and future immunization strategy. Talking on the occasion, Dr Yasmin Rashid said that polio and AIDS eradication programmes had been made fully functional at gross root level. "Up to 17 AIDS treatment centers were working all over the Punjab. Because of better surveillance people affected from HIV were being encouraged to register themselves. It does not mean that number of HIV positive cases was increasing," she said, adding: "Denial mode was not good for controlling AIDS. We have to say goodbye to so- called social restrictions, to eradicate diseases like AIDS."
The minister said that Punjab AIDS Control Programme established desks in all prisons where prisoners were being screened. "Under this programme more than 1,03500 patients of Tuberculosis (TB) were also screened," she said. Dr Yasmin Rashid announced that Punjab would be "Hepatitis free till 2030" and a comprehensive hepatitis eradication plan has been kicked off.
"For now 100 dedicated clinics were working in various district and tehsil hospitals," she said, adding: "Making surveillance was our prime focus." Moreover, a spokesman for the Punjab Health department has strongly rejected an impression that various teaching hospitals would be privatized under the proposed Punjab Medical Teaching Institutions Act. "No final decision taken yet on the proposed draft of the bill and news flashed by a section of media was absolutely baseless," said the spokesman.
"Let me clear that the Punjab government was considering phase wise autonomy of medical teaching institutions to improve their work capacity but no teaching hospital would be so called privatized under the same plan," the spokesman said. He also made it clear that proposed act has nothing to do with fixing of prices of medicines because it was federal subject.
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