Shehbaz inaugurates Erdogan Hospital's expansion project

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday inaugurated the expansion project of Recep Erdogan Hospital, Muzaffargarh.

According to a handout issued here on Saturday, the hospital has been expanded to 380 beds from 140 beds at the cost of one billion and 80 crore rupees. The chief minister visited various departments of the hospitals and praised the arrangements. He looked happy and satisfied.

Shehbaz Sharif speaking on the occasion said the hospital is prove of love of Turkey with Pakistan and the Turkish president has special liking for Pakistan and its people and this hospital will always remind us the love of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He said this hospital is a model for all medical institutions and the facilities of teaching hospital, medical college, nursing college and others will be provided in the future.

Patients from KPK, Balochistan, Sindh and other areas also come here for the treatment. The chief minister said DHQ Muzaffargarh and Recep Erdogan hospitals are the gift from the PML-N government for the people of area.

The record development projects launched by the Punjab government in South Punjab have no precedence in the history of the country. The UNDP has declared Punjab better than KPK and it is the proof of our efforts and we humbly thank Allah Almighty for this blessing.

He said we have constructed schools, colleges, universities, roads and metros in South Punjab. Lakhs of the citizens are benefitting from Muzaffargarh-DG Khan two way Road.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the expansion of the hospital, CM Shehbaz Sharif said this is the historic day and reconstruction of DHQ Muzaffargarh and the 250 bed expansion of Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital have been inaugurated simultaneously. He said the PML-N government has brought about real revolution in the health sector. The people are getting top quality medicines free of cost at public hospitals.

He said Pakistan is among top ten countries which are badly affected by hepatitis and Punjab government has launched an effective movement against this disease and top quality centres have been set up at district level. Doctors, staff and medicines are available in these centres.

He said there is no bigger virtue than providing relief to the distressed humanity and the Punjab government has utilized resources worth billions of rupees for this purpose.

He said he congratulated provincial minister Imran Nazir, secretary health Ali Jan and local administration for setting up top quality hospital.

He said secretary health is among dedicated, hardworking and God fearing officers. He said Secretary Ali Jan is not present here because he has been summoned by NAB.

He said NAB is a constitutional institution and it summoned me as well and I may be summoned again, adding we are to bow to law because only these nations prosperous which accept rule of law.

He said state-of-the-art CT scan machines are being installed in all DHQs and many of DHQs have got these machines.

He said gone are the days when patients were forced to get CT scan from outside on the pretext of malfunctioning of machines.

He said wards in DHQ Muzaffargarh are at a par with hospitals of Europe.

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said devastating floods of 2010 have badly hit this area and friendly country Turkey collected funds for the people surrounded in flood waters and the wife of Turkish president personally visited various cities to collect funds, and Saudi Arabia and UAE also helped the people of Pakistan then.

The Turkish government gave 10 million dollar to help the flood victims and also constructed 1200 houses. The Turkish government also set up this hospital with the capacity of 60 beds then and this hospital can now be compared with Agha Khan Hospital.

He said we expanded this 60 bed hospital to 120 beds and handed over its managements to the Indus Hospital which ran this hospital in an effective way. He said the funds for the hospital are provided by the Punjab government and the Indus Hospital is running it an effective manner.

He said then we decided to set up a 500 bed hospital in Muzaffargarh and some friends advised to change its name but I refused saying that we will keep this name of this hospital as Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital because Turkish government and people had helped us in a big way during heavy floods.

He said no public hospital of this standard is present in any part of Pakistan. He said can anybody think that number one hospital of the country can be set up in South Punjab? It was our obligation which have been fulfilled.

He said the people of the region used to think that only Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi are the parts of Pakistan and South Punjab is not the part of Pakistan. We have changed this thinking.

He said there are eight operation theatres in this hospital and in next few weeks this hospital will be totally functional. He said if we get another chance to rule then we will add 250 beds in one and a half years.

He said heart surgeries will be carried out in this hospital spread over 113 acres. The treatment of cancer, liver, kidneys and eyes will also be available in this hospital. He said he needs only prayers of the people and if he gets prayers his sins will be absolved.

He said on the day judgment when I will be asked what I have done in the world before my death, then I will say that I set up hospitals and served the masses. He said kidney hospital in Multan is working day and night and Indus Hospital is also running it.

He said an important personality talked to me and told me that his both kidneys are not working and he is getting dialysis from this hospital and congratulated me for setting up this hospital. He said those who talk about deprivations of South Punjab are deprived of political wisdom.

He said state-of-the-art hospitals, Daanish schools and roads have been constructed in South Punjab. He said work is in progress day and night on 500 bed hospital in DG Khan.

He said a top quality road has been constructed from Bahawalpur to Hasalpur and under the Khadam-e-Punjab Rural Roads programs investment of Rs90 billion has been made to construct roads in rural roads.

He said relationship connected with South Punjab after 2010 floods can only be ended by death and if we got to rule for the next five years we will bring South Punjab at a par with Central Punjab. Muzaffargarh-DG Khan motorway proves we believe in practical work.

He also announced a campus of university in city of Sultan. He said PML-N has taken practical measures to end power crisis as the country was facing worst power crisis in 2013.

He said electricity for this Ramadan is available for Sher, Iftar and Trawish and its credit goes to Nawaz Sharif.

He said during the last five years electricity amounting to eleven thousands mega watt has been generated and those who are giving sermons against corruption did embezzlement in power projects. The machine of Nandipur project remained rotten at Karachi port for four years and the Supreme Court wrote that Babar Awan has done corruption in this project.

In the same way Neelum Jhelum power project remained moving at the snail's pace for 20 years and an amount of five billion dollars was spent on it which is equal to annual development budget of Punjab. It is said the corruption of billions of rupees has been done in this 980MW project.

He said Punjab has installed four gas-powered plants which are producing 5000MW electricity and these projects have been installed at the half cost of the Zardari government.

He said on the other hand there is Imran Niazi sahib who did politics of sit-ins and allegations and did not work of even a single penny. I invite him to visit Muzaffargarh and see hospital as we have finished difference of rich and poor. Provincial ministers and lawmakers were also present.