‘Speed up work on mother-child hospitals, projects’

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has directed the officials concerned to expedite the pace of work at Mother and Child Hospitals and other development projects.

She was chairing a meeting at the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) on Tuesday.

The Health Minister reviewed the progress of construction work of Mother and Child Hospitals, upgrade of basic health units (BHUs) to 24/7 model and various other projects in the province.

Addressing the meeting, she said that under the Prime Minister Health Initiative, revamping of health facilities was underway in eight districts of the province.

She said that all development projects must be completed within deadline with absolute transparency.

“The hospitals in Attock, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang, Kasur, Mianwali, Rajanpur, Lodhran and Chiniot are being upgraded,” Dr Yasmin highlighted adding that provision of basic health services is the responsibility of the state.

Talking about the pandemic the minister said the improved capacity of the system has served relief while combating coronavirus in Punjab and there has been no scarcity of funds to supplement it.

The health minister asked the P&SHD Secretary Sarah Aslam to personally supervise all the development projects.

Additional Secretary Development Omar Farooq, Additional Secretary Technical Dr Asim Altaf and a number of senior officials were present in the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2021.