LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the government is determined to reform the health sector and provide modern health services to the common man.

Presiding over a meeting regarding Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap on Saturday, the CM said the Health Reforms Roadmap would be implemented in an effective manner for improving the performance of the Health Department and providing better treatment facilities to patients.

He said the cooperation of the British Department for International Development for reformation of health sector was commendable. He said targets of uplift of the health sector would be achieved with the help of experience, support and consultation of DFID.

Shahbaz said the mobile health unit project had been very successful and these units were providing modern treatment facilities to the people of far-flung areas.

He directed that effective measures should be taken for expanding the scope of coverage of the vaccination programme against diseases. He said the training programme for vaccinators should be implemented in a comprehensive manner and digital monitoring of vaccination programme should be undertaken.

He said special attention should be paid to mother and child health under the Punjab Health Reforms Roadmap and health workers training programme should be evolved on the pattern of teachers training programme.

Special representative of DFID Sir Michael Barber and DFID head in Pakistan Richard Montgomery said the Health Reforms Roadmap was a big step of the Punjab government and its implementation would result in improvement in health sector.

Published in Dawn, August 31th, 2014