He said the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and a 410-bed hospital in Bahawalpur would be fully functional by January 2013, while District Headquarters Hospital, Bhawalnagar, would be upgraded and foundation stone of a medical college at Bhakhar would also be laid soon.
The Chief Minister was presiding over a meeting to review mega health projects in the province at Chief Minister's Secretariat on Friday. The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique, Members Assembly Hanif Abbasi, Malik Riaz, Baleegh-ur-Rehman, Rana Muhammad Iqbal and Chairman Planning & Development. Secretary Health Captain Arif Nadeem (Retd) gave a briefing on different projects in the health sector. Addressing the meeting, Shahbaz Sharif said that promotion of health sector and provision of modern medical facilities to the people, at their doorstep, is the top priority of the Punjab government, for which a concrete strategy has been adopted. He said, 410-bed hospital in Bahawalpur is in the last phase of its completion which will not only provide modern medical facilities to the people of Bahawalpur division, but also to those living in Sindh and Balochistan.
He said rapid work is going on to complete Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, which would provide medical care to cardiac patients, after becoming functional. He said a 310-bed hospital at Shahdra is being constructed, while upgradation work on DHQ hospital Sargodha is also being expeditiously completed.
He said billions of rupees are being spent on construction of new hospitals, which are aimed at providing modern medical facilities to the people. He warned that any delay in the completion of these public welfare projects is intolerable and ordered to further expedite the pace of construction work on new hospitals. Chief Minister directed Special Assistant on Health Kh. Salman Rafique and Secretary Communication & Works to personally visit Shahdra and Sargodha to review the pace of work, at the under construction hospitals. He said capable, hard working and professional staff should be chosen for the new hospitals. He said Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and Bahawalpur hospital would be run as completely autonomous institutions. The Chief Minister directed improving sanitary conditions in all hospitals, throughout the province, alongwith taking steps on war-footings, to clean the hospitals from rodents and cats. He said the sad incident of mouse biting which occurred at a Rawalpindi hospital, should not happen at any hospital in Punjab, otherwise the responsible persons would not be spared.
Secretary Health Captain Arif Nadeem (Retd)apprised the Chief Minister about the pace of work on health projects, and said that the purchase process of medical instruments for the hospitals is being expeditiously competed, while staff for new hospitals has been selected purely on merit basis.