A high level delegation of World Health Organisation led by its Country Head Dr Michel JJ Thieren met Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, here Thursday. Matters regarding promotion of cooperation in health sector were discussed in the meeting. Talking to the delegation, the CM said that solid measures are being taken by the provincial govt for provision of public health facilities.
He said that in order to ensure quality health services, provincial health department has been bifurcated. He said that quality health facilities is the right of citizens, therefore, Punjab govt has made substantial increase in the health budget. Shahbaz said that a comprehensive programme has been evolved for the provision of quality public health facilities to the masses. He said that special attention is being paid to the vaccination for controlling viral diseases. He said that reforms are being introduced for the improvement of health sector and a special programme is being launched for the capacity building of lady health workers. He said that modern technology is being utilised for ensuring attendance of doctors, nurses and Para-medical staff. The CM said that billions of rupees are being spent for the provision of free medicines to the patients in hospitals. He said that work has been started on the project of setting up state of the art Pakistan Kidney and Transplant Institute in Lahore. He said that vigorous crackdown is being launched against spurious drugs. He said that a state of the art drugs testing laboratory will be established in Lahore.
Shahbaz said that a comprehensive programme is being implemented for the uplift of health sector with the cooperation of British Department for International Development. He said that with the increase in population, diseases are also increasing and the govt is working with the help of concerned institutions for coping with the problem of population.