Paying tribute: Nurses are backbone of healthcare system, says Salman Rafique

LAHORE:

Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system. It cannot function without them, Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said on Tuesday.

He was addressing a seminar at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital in connection with the World Nursing Day.

“The government has introduced major reforms in the health sector. However, a lot of work is yet to be done. The government has promoted nurses to the next grade. They had been waiting for their promotions for several years,” he said.

He said that services of thousands of nurses had been regularised. “Recently, 1,450 charge nurses were selected by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) and the Health Department. They have been issued their appointment and posting orders,” he said.



Rafique said that a requisition for another 1,000 nurses would soon be sent to the PPSC. “Nurses perform a sacred duty in taking care of patients. The society should acknowledge their services and respect them. A positive change is gradually taking place in society about the nursing profession. There is a need for change in the nurses’ attitude as well,” he said.

Rafique said that nursing schools would be upgraded to college level. He said that advanced courses and capacity-building training abroad were also being arranged for nurses.

“A number of steps have been taken to improve the healthcare system in the Punjab and there is a lot of work to be done. On the instructions of the chief minister, steps are being taken for the improvement of mother-and-child health. The Health Department is going to start 24-hour healthcare services at 700 basic health units for pregnant women in June. Around 66 per cent of basic health units have been made functional by filling the posts of medical officers,” he said.

The adviser on health said that the Health Department was the voice of doctors and nurses. Rafique said that the ministers, advisers and government officers should facilitate the public.

He said that the government had granted four-tier service structure to the allied health staff.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2015.