MULTAN, Oct 12: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi laid the foundation stone of the Multan Institute of Cardiology here on Sunday with a pledge to make it even better than the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said he was pleased to have the honour of laying the foundation of the second institute of its kind in the province. He announced that the provincial government had allocated Rs1 billion for the MIC to make it a state-of-the-art institution.

Once ready, he wanted the MIC to extend services in those fields where the PIC couldn’t. He said the MIC would cover a vast area of south Punjab and its adjoining districts of Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP.

The CM also announced a grant of Rs30m for equipment upgradation of the radiotherapy section of the Nishter Medical College and Hospital. He said that there would be no dearth of funds for the Multan Children Complex and claimed that his government would make Multan a centre of excellence viz-a-viz medical facilities in southern part of the province.

He said his government was giving special attention to the improvement in working condition of nurses and to elevate dignity of the profession. He said classes for graduation in nursing were being launched from this year.

The CM said the Punjab government was focusing to bring about radical changes in health services regarding emergency treatments, surgery and post-surgery medical care. He said he had directed all the hospitals not to delay treatment to patients brought to emergencies.

He said the provincial government had earmarked an amount of Rs2 billion for the upgradation of teaching institutes in the province.

He said each district would be given Rs150m for improvement in education sector every year. He said his government had announced a number of incentives to reduce dropout ratio from the schools besides upgrading boys and girls schools in the areas of have-nots. “First of all we want to revamp the education sector before legislating compulsory education for all,” he added.

Briefing the CM on the occasion, MIC project director Dr Naeem Tareen said initially the institute would be of 150 beds which would enhanced to 300 later on. He claimed that the institute would be run on the pattern of world famous Texas Heart Institute of USA.

He said all the latest diagnostic and treatment facilities, such as heart catheterization, coronary angioplasty and coronary stenting, all types of open heart surgeries, including paediatric surgery, cardiac transplant, cardiac-electro physiology, radio frequency ablation treatment and gene therapy would be provided at the MIC. “Some of these facilities are not available anywhere in the country,” he claimed.

Later, the CM drove to the Multan Press Club where he promised to reconstruct the club building having centrally airconditioned auditorium. He also announced an annual grant of Rs1m for the club to meet its expenses besides accepting to bear the expenses of the development of a proposed journalists’ housing colony.