Various steps are being taken to institutionalise school health and nutrition programme in Punjab, said Advisor to Punjab chief minister on Health Salman Rafiq while addressing a national seminar regarding school health situation and steps being followed to institutionalize it on Thursday. The seminar was held under the aegis of Fatima Memorial Hospital and Nur Centre for Research and Policy at a local hotel and besides representatives of international partners of the Health Department, Parliamentary Secretary Health Imran Nazir, Punjab Assembly Member Rana Munawar, Nur Foundation President Shahima Rehman, Chief Executive Officer Dr Haroon Ehsan, NCRP advocacy expert Saba Sheikh, Dr Romi Aziz, Nur Foundation Technical Advisor Strategy and Policy Maha Rehman, School Programme Health Department Additional Director Usman Ghani, officers of Education, Social Welfare, Principals of educational institutions, doctors and representatives of NGOs attended the seminar.
The health advisor said that without effective control of diseases, hospitals and budget for the treatment of patients can never be sufficient and keeping in view this requirement, the government is paying special attention to the prevention. He said that education and health are interlinked and without promoting education and creating awareness among the people, implementation on health message is difficult in backward cities.
He said that on the direction of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the government has conducted a study for identifying the flaws in the system, meeting the shortage of medicines, medical equipments, doctors and improving the performance of basic health units, tehsil and district headquarters hospitals and steps are being taken in the light of this study.
He disclosed that the chief minister will soon announce a special package in this regard. He said that this is the time of practical work and not holding conferences and discussions and we will have to pay attention to the problems of others by rising above personal interest and reach to the people of far-flung areas. He appreciated the efforts of Nur Foundation in this regard.
Earlier, school health and nutrition experts addressing the conference stressed upon the participants to present their proposals for solving the child health problems and improving school health in the light of their experiences and study.
The participants were of the view that due to lack of education and awareness, women in rural areas are unable to resolve problems of child health and even they are unaware of washing hands with soap after using toilet and cleaning feeder due to which immunity among children reduces and diseases spread speedily.
