The government is planning to set up three new hospitals and revamp basic health units (BHUs) in the federal capital in order to curtail burden on existing health facilities.
Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MNHSR&C) Amir Mehmood Kiani while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on NHSR&C said that funds have been allocated for construction of three new hospitals and work on them is likely to be started next month. The meeting was presided over by MNA Khalid Hussain Magsi.
He further said that the government is planning to bring five bills for improvement in existing health facilities in the city. The government is appointing a board of governors (BoG) in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in consultation with PIMS employees in order to look after administrative and financial affairs, he said, adding that the appointment of BoG will improve the performance of the hospital.
The minister said that improvement of health facility was not the priority of the previous governments. "The hospital and especially BHUs in the federal capital are in very bad condition; therefore, the government is taking immediate steps to revamp BHUs to provide health facilities to people on their doorstep and decrease burden on big hospitals," he said, adding that ministry is also starting free of cost screening for hepatitis.
He further informed the meeting that 17-member board of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) having three members from each province has been appointed. To a question raised by MNA Shaukat Ali about Sehat Insaf Cards, he said that under the health card scheme, around 80 million people or 10 million families would get benefit in terms of angioplasty, critical surgery and cancer treatment. Around 15 million people will benefit from the scheme by the year 2021.
The committee discussed the budgetary proposals of the ministry for the financial Year 2019-20. An amount of Rs 30,068 million demanded by the ministry has been approved by the committee under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the next financial year 2019-20.
MNAs Nasir Khan Musazai, Shoukat Ali, Raja Khuram Shahzad Nawaz, Dr Nousheen Hamid, Dr Seemi Bokhari, Fouzia Behram, Noreen Farooq Khan, Prof Dr Shahnaz Naseer Baloch, Nisar Ahmed Cheema, Samina Matloob, Mahesh Kumar Malani and James Iqbal, and officials of the ministry and attached departments attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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