LAHORE:Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Punjab Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique, on Saturday, said the government and private sector could jointly cope with health challenges, and to ensure the provision of quality medical facilities the government has been promoting cooperation with the private hospitals.
He expressed these views while addressing the inaugural session of a 2nd 3-day conference held in connection with cardiac and respiratory diseases at Gulab Devi Hospital.
Gulab Devi Hospital Chairman Syed Shahid Ali, Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Hamid, Prof Ashraf, Prof Zubair and a large number of local and foreign delegates were also present on the occasion.
Salman Rafique said that the conference would prove to be fruitful regarding treatment of cardiac and respiratory diseases and added that the government would consider the recommendations of the conference.
The minister said that the implementation of revamping project for equipping all the District Head Quarters (DHQ) and Tehsil Head Quarters (THQ) hospitals of the province with modern medical equipment and other facilities has been started, adding, 40 public sector hospitals of the province would be revamped till August 2017
The minister said that numbers of bed have been increased significantly keeping in view the population growth during the last three years in teaching hospitals, adding, that four hospitals comprising 500-bed each were under construction
He said, “The experts will have to come with viable solutions to cope with the mushrooming growth of population that results in the increases of patients in the public sector hospitals.”
The health minister said that the Gulab Devi Hospital has an excellent history as it has rendered invaluable services for providing treatment facilities to the poor patients.
The minister said that the Health Department would be starting joint venture with Gulab Devi Hospital for the treatment of cardiac patients.
Syed Shahid Ali and Dr Hamid also spoke on the occasion and gave details about the performance of the hospital.