'Huge funds allocated to healthcare'

Minister for Labour Punjab, Haji Ehsaan-ud-Din Qureshi has said that focus of the government is upon primary and protective healthcare and huge funds are being allocated for provision of state of the art healthcare facilities to the masses of the province, especially labourers and their families.
While addressing delegations of doctors, paramedics and labourers, Haji Ehsaan-ud-Din Qureshi said that government has reserved rupees 42.30 billion for provision of healthcare facilities to the people in the province. He said that government is appointing gynaecologists at health centres in remote areas to provide better healthcare facilities to mothers.
He informed that MMR in LHWs covered area is 147/100,000 live births, compared 300 to 350/100,000 to uncovered areas, therefore, LHWs, LHVs and the community midwives are being appointed at all health centres in remote areas. He said that huge funds are being allocated for provision of state of the art healthcare facilities to the labourers and their families, as the labourers are the backbone of our industrial system.
He said that Rs 2,427,520,620/- will be spent for the provision of medical treatment in the social security hospital, whereas, Rs 1,134,605,000/- will be spent in dispensaries. In order to shift labourers to teaching hospitals swiftly, 20 new fully equipped with modern medical equipment ambulances have been handed over to the social security hospitals, he added.
The minister said that programmes launched for maternal and neonatal healthcare will ensure progress towards achieving millennium development goals (MDGs) in maternal and infant health. Specific objectives of these programmes are: to reduce under five mortality rate to less than 65 per thousand live births by this year target 2015:45/1000, reduce new-born mortality rate to less than 40 per thousand live births target 40/1000, than 55 per thousand live births by the current year target 40/1000, reduce maternal mortality ratio to 200 per 10,000 live births by this year target 140/10,000 and increase proportion of deliveries attended by skilled birth attendants at home or in health facilities to 90 percent by 2015.