October 10, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 27, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 9: Punjab Health Minister Chaudhry Iqbal says no asset of the Lahore General Hospital and the government will be transferred to any international organisation.

Talking to a delegation of the Pakistan Medical Association here on Tuesday, the minister said the ownership of the LGH or Post-graduate Medical Institute would not be transferred to any organisation.

He assured the delegation that a notification for the establishment of the LGH medical college would be issued.

He told the delegation that their demands would be conveyed to the chief minister.

PMA’s Lahore Secretary-G Dr Azeemuddin Zahid told Dawn that the association had postponed its protest campaign on the assurance of the health minister.

He said a notification to establish a public medical college adjacent to the LGH had been issued, but some elements at the helm of affairs were trying to cancel it to pave the way for a US company to set up a private college there.

The PMA had launched the protest after the proposed plan was unveiled a couple of months ago that the US firm would be given 100-kanal state land adjacent to the LGH for the establishment of a private medical college and assets of the hospital would also be transferred to it on a 30-year lease. The LGH would also be the teaching hospital of the proposed college and the firm would function in Punjab under a subsidiary company.

According to a handout issued here on Tuesday, the PMA office-bearers lauded the efforts of the government for improvement of medial education and allocation of huge funds for the completion of new initiatives at LGH. They assured the continuation of medical services in the hospital and said that they had called off the strike.

The minister said the public-private partnership would result in a number of potential benefits for the promotion of medical education.

PMA president Dr Sarwar Chaudhry, Punjab secretary-general Dr Izhar Chaudhry, Lahore secretary-general Dr Azimuddin Zahid and Dr Ali Haider of Medical Teachers Association were also present. —Staff Reporter