LAHORE/MULTAN: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered the audit of the Kidney Centre and Children’s Hospital in Multan.

At a meeting here in Lahore on Tuesday, the chief minister ordered complete audit of technical, financial and civil works of both hospitals and ordered an inquiry into purchase of equipment and other matters from the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team.

In early part of the day, Mr Sharif visited the two hospitals during his visit to Multan on Tuesday.

He told reporters as hospitals in the private sector were performing better than public hospitals, for that reason only the administrative affairs of some hospitals were being handed over to non-government organisations.

In this regard, he cited the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital in Muzaffargarh, being run by a private body while the provincial government provides funds for the hospital.

He dispelled the impression that hospitals were being privatised.

He said the extension of Children’s Complex would provide liver transplant, bypass surgery and bone marrow transplantation.

He paid a surprise visit to the Kidney Institute of Multan and expressed his displeasure over dirty bedsheets in the X-Ray lab and deployment of untrained staff at CT scan. He also took notice of the unavailability of gas to the laundry plant.He said hospitals were to provide health facilities to the patients and those failing to convert them into good treatment centres should go home.

What angered him here was the lack of alternative power supply for the digital express machine and non-availability of medicines.

The chief minister visited Children’s Hospital and the Institute of Child Health and showed his concerns over the substandard construction work and lack of functioning of machinery.He said that Rs2 billion were being spent on the extension of the hospital, which would increase 150 beds.

He said the Nishtar Medical College has been given the status of a university and land would be acquired for the extension of the Nishtar Hospital.

Also, Mr Sharif and Corps Commander Lt Gen Sarfraz Sattar chaired a meeting jointly on Tuesday where they were briefed about arrangements for the sixth census.

The meeting, attended by army and civilian officers, was also briefed on the Garrison Public Library for which the provincial government has donated funds from parliamentarians’ allocations.

Mr Sharif said the census was a national responsibility for devising better future planning. He was satisfied on the arrangements for census.

He said the library was an excellent project to spread knowledge and the provincial government would cooperate with the army on this project. He also visited the project.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2017