Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Kh Salman Rafique has said that the Punjab government was constructing new hospitals in various districts to reduce the load on Lahore’s tertiary care hospitals.
The minister further said that the Government Hospital Shahdra would be made a model hospital with the latest facilities and equipment to ensure the provision of quality healthcare to the public.
He stated this while inaugurating 10 new dialysis machines in the dialysis unit of the hospital here on Monday.
Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Pervaiz Imtiaz informed those attending the inauguration ceremony that ministers that the turnover of patients had increased manifold due to the provision of the latest diagnostic and treatment facilities.
He said that latest surgical and medical facilities were being provided in the hospital and that specialist doctors had been posted in the hospital. He informed the gathering that the dialysis unit ha specialists of urology and nephrology. “14 dialysis machines were previously installed in the unit and another 10 machines have been included in the dialysis unit with the help of philanthropists through the Patients Welfare Society,” the MS said.
Addressing the gathering, Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Imran Nazir said that efforts were being made to provide the best healthcare facilities in Government Hospital Shahdra so that people would not have to proceed to Lahore in search of healthcare. He said that day by day the hospital would be further upgraded and more specialties would be introduced in the hospital.
A large number of patients from Narowal, Muridke, Gujranwala, Shakargarh and other adjoining areas are also benefitting from the hospital.
Salman Rafique said that the government had established half a dozen tehsil level hospitals in Lahore and that the upgradation of tertiary hospitals had also been carried out. He disclosed that new hospitals of 500 beds are under construction in Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sahiwal, and Dera Ghazi Khan which would be completed within a year, adding 2000 beds to the system.
The minister disclosed that the government is also creating an understanding with hospitals attached to private medical colleges for resolving the issue of non-availability of beds.
Fatima Jinnah Medical University Vice Chancellor Prof Fakhar Imam and the Patients Welfare Society president also addressed the occasion and thanked the philanthropists for providing the dialysis machines to the hospital.