LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the first state-of-the-art pathology lab at District Headquarters Hospital in Layyah on Monday.
As much as 436 tests of 43 categories will be conducted in this lab which has been constructed with an amount of Rs9 crores and 40 lakhs. He inspected different sections and put up queries about the holding of tests. North Shore Medical Lab of the USA will administer this lab.
Talking on the occasion, Shehbaz said that Punjab government is setting up pathology labs in 26 DHQ Hospitals in three phases in collaboration with the private sector, adding that standard of their tests will not be less than any European lab. He said that token-fee will be collected to fulfill the claim of providing free treatment to the people and rest of the expenditures will be borne out by the Punjab government. He said that mobile bio-mechanical project has also been started in this hospital for timely repair of different equipment. The chief minister handed over the keys of the workshop to the deputy commissioner. He also inspected the renovation work of the old block of the hospital.
Talking to the media, the chief minister said that this lab is compatible with any other lab of the world as latest machinery, experts and trained staff is provided in this lab. Through a transparent tendering system, contracts have been awarded for setting up such labs in different districts, he added. He said that along with Layyah, these labs have been established in Vehari, Jhelum, Chakwal and Khushab as well and the latest system of blood test has been put in place.
Earlier, the patients had to move to other cities for such tests but now Punjab government has set up these labs in far-flung areas which have the capacity to conduct one thousand blood tests in an hour. Hundreds of patients are enjoying the facility of blood tests through these labs every day and wonderful arrangements have been made for the patients in these labs.
The chief minister also congratulated the people of Layyah and other parts of the province for having the facility of most modern labs near them. He disclosed that DHQ Hospital Layyah is being upgraded, adding that he has been happy to observe a neat and clean atmosphere along with the availability of best medical facilities. 40 DHQ and THQ Hospitals in the province are being upgraded on the same model, he added.
He said that a CT scan machine was inaugurated in this hospital a few months ago and 1500 tests have been conducted through this machine up till now. This round the clock CT scan facility is provided free of cost and is operated privately and the payments are made by the Punjab government, he added. He further said that this system has been put in place in the whole Punjab and 20 mobile hospitals are doing a wonderful healthcare service in different remote areas of the province as well.
He said that hepatitis has rapidly spread in the country and therefore, a number of hepatitis filter clinics have been made functional under the institution of PKLI. He also said that there was no system in vogue to repair the rundown hospital machinery earlier and therefore, three bio-medical workshops have been established in Lahore, Sargodha and Multan respectively. Meanwhile, nine such mobile workshops have also been procured which are interconnected through a centralised control system and are fully equipped with trained staff and equipment, he added.
He said that the machinery is immediately repaired if it becomes dysfunctional and similarly, a wonderful ambulance system has been introduced for women patients in the rural areas. He also said that the ambulance reaches the patient in 30 minutes for providing necessary medical aid and the patient is brought to nearby DHQ or THQ Hospital in case of any complication. This has been done due to the hard work of Health Minister Kh Imran Nazir, Secretary Ali Jan Khan and his whole team, he added.
The chief minister said that organised system has been put in place to dispose of hazardous material in Layyah Hospital and the same is being spread to all the hospitals speedily. The system has been brought in southern Punjab districts to begin with and high-quality medicines are also being provided in government-run hospitals, he added.
He maintained that Punjab government has taken practical steps for transforming Pakistan according to the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal and the claimants of “Naya Pakistan”, only want to take the country towards destruction.
Replying to a question, the chief minister said that Imran is a liar who levels baseless allegations and replying to him is wastage of time and insult of the truth.
“He baselessly alleged that I took Rs27 billion from Javed Sadiq as a bribe and offered Rs10 billion to him to shut the Panama Papers case. Replying to him would be an insult to the truth,” he said.
Replying to another question, he said that high-quality medicines are being provided in public sector hospital and are equally available to both rich and poor patients. High-quality pathological labs are being established across the province and CT scan machines are also providing service to the patients round the clock, he concluded.
