LAHORE, Oct 3: President Gen Pervez Musharraf inaugurated the country’s first health university in public sector at Shaikh Zayed Complex here on Thursday.

The Punjab government has given Rs60 million to the “University of Health Sciences”. The president, too, announced a Rs20 million federal grant for the university.

Unprecedented security arrangements were made in and around the Shaikh Zayed Complex. Police and army personnel were deployed everywhere — even on rooftops of the buildings. Security and army personnel checked and counter-checked the arrangements specially at the dais. Roads were manned by policemen who displayed security clearance passes on their chests for the first time in local history.

Speaking on the occasion, the president said that the government had adopted a holistic policy to improve the education system and intended to link higher education with the industry so as to reduce imports and increase exports.

He said the government was also concentrating on improving literacy, primary and secondary, higher and madressah education. The government wanted to improve the overall education system, given the fact that human resource development was the key to national progress, he remarked.

He acknowledged Punjab’s efforts to improve the primary and secondary education by revising the syllabi, correcting the examination system and arranging teachers’ training.

The president said the steering committees on education and science and technology under science minister Dr Attaur Rehman had formulated strategies for the education sector after interaction with all provinces. Under these plans, the University Grants Commission had been merged with the new Higher Education Commission. The recently-approved Model University Ordinance would also be glad tidings for this sector.

The president said the state of medical education had declined over the years, but hoped that the new university would help improve the situation.

The university is expected to introduce modern syllabus and a revamped examination system and attract efficient teachers, he said, adding “one would like it to be a centre of excellence and research.”

He hoped that medical scientists would use biotechnology to produce cheaper medicines. Improved pharmaceutical education with a direct link with the local industry could help reduce our dependency on costly imported drugs, he added.

The president urged upon doctors to educate the people in prevention of diseases. “Prevention is always better than cure,” he observed.

He said he knew that the Punjab was laying emphasis on health sector. The focus should be on improving health care at the primary and secondary level. “I am happy to know that the Punjab governor is doing a lot in this direction.” This is needed because the masses live in villages where there is no health facility, he said.

Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool and health minister Prof Dr Mehmood Ahmad Chaudhry also spoke on the occasion. Lahore Corps Commander Lt-Gen Zarrar Azim and the university’s chief executive, Manzoor Hussain, shared the dais with the president. The function was also attended by provincial ministers, senior doctors, civil and military officers, and chief executives of teaching hospitals.

The governor in his speech cited the various steps taken for the improvement of health and education sectors. He said the budget for government hospital’s medicines had been doubled. He was full of hopes about the outcome of the public-private partnership in these sectors.

He said thousands of doctors and paramedics had been recruited. The government also plans to attract specialists to tehsil and district-level hospitals through attractive salary packages.

The governor said the government was facing challenges — like the one in the form of spurious drugs. “I do hope that doctors would help us find answers to these difficult questions,” he added.

He said the university would serve as a cluster of talent and a centre of research and development. It has been created with the help of the UAE and the federal government, he told the audience.