He said Rs 440 million would be utilized to purchase medical equipment for social security hospitals. He said that the government had reserved Rs 42.30 billion for the provision of healthcare facilities to people in the province.

Talking to delegations of doctors, paramedics and labourers, he said that programmes launched for maternal and neonatal healthcare would ensure progress towards achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs) in maternal and infant health whereas specific objectives of the programmes were to reduce the under five mortality rate to less than 65 per thousand live births by this year.