LAHORE, July 23: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on Friday announced university status for the King Edward Medical College (KEMC). The chief minister announced the upgradation of the college at the foundation-stone laying ceremony of a girls hostel's new block and a centre for control and prevention of childhood blindness.

Talking to newsmen, the chief minister dispelled the impression that the decision would create problems in the presence of the University of Health Sciences. He said the UHS was established mainly to look into the affairs of private medical colleges.

He said doctors on contract would be regularized and the stipend of trainee doctors increased as well. He said an endowment fund with Rs500 million had been set up to facilitate needy students. About Rs80 million had been spent on 1,000 students so far, he said.

He announced allocation of Rs250 million for the construction of a six-storeyed surgical block at the Mayo Hospital. He also allocated Rs3.8 million for the pathology laboratory and Rs1.4 million for pharmacology department of the KEMC.

The chief minister said the government was focusing on the health sector so that better health facilities could be provided to people. He said Rs1 billion had been allocated to upgrade the emergency of 11 teaching hospitals. The WHO and some NGOs were co-operating in the establishment of a new eye-treatment institute, he said.

To improve the nursing sector, he said the government would increase the salaries of nurses and give them move overs on improving their qualification.

Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed said the government would install incinerators to treat hospital waste. He said the doctors service structure was being restored. KEMC Principal Prof Dr Mumtaz Hasan also spoke.