Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday the Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap must be implemented to improve the performance of Health Department so that better medical facilities were available to the people.
He was presiding over a meeting on the Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap on Saturday.
He said development of the health sector was a top priority of the government.
The chief minister said the government had sought collaboration with the British Department for International Development (DFID) for reformation of health sector. He said targets for uplift of the health sector would be achieved with DFID’s support and consultation.
He said the mobile health unit project had been “very successful.”
“Mobile health units have made access to health facilities easier for people living in rural areas,” he said.
Minister for Population Welfare Begum Zakiya Shahnawaz, Adviser on Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq, Provincial Assembly Member Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, DFID representative Sir Michael Barber, DFID chief Richard Montgomery, the DFID roadmap team, the chief secretary, and the Planning and Development Department chairman were also present.
DFID representatives briefed the meeting on the priorities of the programme.
The chief minister said an effective check-and-balance system would be established for the implementation of the Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap so that desired results could be achieved.
He said rural health centres and basic health units had not been able to produce satisfactory results.
The chief minister sought a plan for improving rural and basic health centres in two weeks. Sharif said the vaccination programme should be expanded to include more diseases.
He said a training programme for vaccinators would be introduced and vaccination drives would be digitally monitored.
He said that special attention would be paid to maternal and child health under the Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap and a health workers training programme would be evolved along the pattern of teachers’ training programme.
He said administrative changes in the implementation of the Punjab Rural Support Programme would make it more effective.
The chief minister stressed that collective efforts were needed for success of health reforms.
Sharif said population growth should be contained to gain full benefits from of the development programmes in education, health and agriculture sectors.
He said the government would launch a public awareness drive for population control. He said seminars and discussions should be held for in this regard.
Barber and Montgomery told the meeting that Punjab had made “tremendous progress” in education and health sectors under the leadership of the chief minister.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2014.
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