LAHORE, July 24: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi says services of heart specialists from England, Australia and other countries are being acquired for cardiology institutes being set up in Faisalabad and Wazirabad.

Projects worth billions of rupees are being initiated to provide modern health facilities to cardiac patients, the chief minister told a meeting held to review progress on the health sector reforms programme at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Tuesday.

He said free medical facilities and availability of doctors, nurses and medicines had been ensured at rural and basic health centres under the health reforms programme. He asked health officials to form a steering committee under the special health secretary to look after administrative affairs of the Multan Institute of Cardiology.

Pervaiz Elahi said work on cardiology institutes in Faisalabad and Wazirabad was in progress speedily. He said that heart specialists coming from abroad for these institutes would immediately be provided residential and other facilities. He said the government had made arrangements at the district level for walk-in interviews to recruit doctors, nurses and paramedics for rural and basic health centres. He said that it had been decided to authorise district coordination officers to recruit doctors. He said the government had created six new vacancies for nurses at each rural health centre and recruitment against 63 percent of these vacancies had been completed. He said that a lady doctor and two lady health visitors had also been appointed at each rural health centre.

He said 293 rural health centres had been provided 24-hour labour room facility and added that this facility was also available at tehsil and district headquarters hospitals round the clock. He said that computers, generators, ultrasound machines, operation theatres and labour room equipment were also being provided to rural health centres throughout the province. He issued directions for the provision of modern dental chairs and medical equipment at these centres. He said that telephones had been installed at 2,300 primary healthcare centres in the province.

He approved promotion of qualified male and female medical officers to the rank of specialists and said that it would help address the shortage of specialist doctors in the province. He said the government was attaching priority to the provision of health care and education to women. He said that lady doctors would be deputed for women’s post-mortem and they would get an additional allowance of Rs5,000 for each post-mortem.

The chief minister said a new cadre entitled community midwife had been created and a one-and-half-year training programme had been introduced for this cadre at 40 public health and general nursing schools of the province.—APP