ISLAMABAD, June 6: The government is likely to devise a policy to check the mushroom growth of medical institutions in the private sector.

“I have directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) to prepare a plan to take a strict action against all such medical institutions which do not comply with the required standard,” Federal Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan told reporters here on Friday.

“First, we will give all these medical institutions a definite timeframe may be till December to remove their deficiencies after which an inspection will be conducted.”

He said those institutions which fell short of faculties, physical facilities for academic blocks, dissection halls, common rooms, cafeteria, medical/dental equipment related to laboratories, libraries and different models and information technology would be closed down immediately.

Regulating medical institutions was part of the priorities the government had set for the next financial year, the minister said, adding that the priority list also contained raiding pharmacies to check sale of spurious or off-date medicines.

The chemists would also be given a timeframe after which the licence of those chemists found guilty of having spurious or expired medicines would be cancelled on the spot, he said, citing the example of UK where similar practice was in vogue.

Mr Khan said he also met President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan and managed to enhance the budgetary allocation for the health sector by Rs1,000 million. Thus the budget for the next financial year would be Rs4.5 billion, he added.

The minister said implementation of anti-smoking ordinance would be implemented from June 15 after which all sponsorships, especially for sports would come to an end. “The tobacco industry has targeted countries like us because they are getting squeeze space in the West,” he said.

The minister also informed the mediapersons about his recent visit to the World Health Assembly held in Geneva in which Pakistan was elected full member of WHO executive board, which comprised representatives of 32 countries.

WHO representative Khalif Bile said 100,000 people died annually in Pakistan from tobacco related diseases. He said one family head out of every five smoked putting their children in danger. Globally, he said, around 4.9 million people die annually while tobacco was responsible for 13.3 thousand deaths per day.