LAHORE: Caretaker health minister Dr Jawad Sajid Khan has directed the specialised healthcare and medical education department to take immediate steps for making the Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology (WIC) fully functional for cardiac surgeries and introducing emergency facility.

He gave the orders during a departmental briefing by the SH&ME department here on Wednesday.

The institute was built during the Pervaiz Elahi government (2002-2008) but had been non-functional since the Shehbaz government took the charge after 2008 polls.

Health Secretary Syed Najam Ahmad Shah briefed the minister on the department’s performance, the initiatives taken and development carried out in the health sector.

Dr Khan, who is a cardiac surgeon and a former chief executive of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, was told that during the last five years, at least 5,000 beds had been included in the tertiary care hospitals of the province, out of which 3,000 beds were added during the last two years.

He was told that 12 mega projects had been completed at a cost of Rs26 billion in two years, Surgical Tower of the Mayo Hospital being one of them, which was fully functional now.

Mr Shah said the WIC operation theaters had been completed and all the equipment and machinery had been installed there. Moreover, a professor of cardiac surgery had also been posted in the WIC and within a couple of weeks cardiac surgeries would also be started at the institution.

The minister was told the liver transplant centre at the Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore had been upgraded at a cost of Rs400 million, whereas four state-of-the-art burns centres -- in the Mayo Hospital’s Surgical Tower, Nishtar Hopital Multan, Jinnah Hospital Lahore and Allied Hospital Faisalabad -- are fully functional.

Dr Khan also ordered physical inspection of the 901 ventilators installed in the teaching hospitals, besides constitution of a body comprising senior radiologists for online consultancy and reading of CT Scan reports for correct diagnosis.

rehab centre sealed: Teams of Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) on Wednesday sealed an illegal drug addiction treatment and rehabilitation centre and issued show-cause notices to seven others while closing down another 33 quacks’ businesses.

A spokesperson said the PHC teams conducted raids on eight treatment centres in Lahore, Kharian, Gujranwala and Sialkot.

During raid at Idara-Tark-e-Manshiaat in Kharian, a PHC team found patients crammed into dirty rooms even without basic facilities. After examining, evacuating and handing over patients to their relatives, the centre was sealed as it did not have registration of the PHC, requisite human resource like psychiatrists, doctors, para-medical staff and the emergency cover.

Show-cause notices were issued to seven centres. In Sialkot, AAS Rehabilitation Centre, MA Jinnah Foundation, New Life Rehabilitation Centre, Pyari Behtar Zindagi Centre, Manzal-e-Nu Hospital and Alnoor Hospital, in Gujranwala Mian Afzal Trust Hospital were stopped from taking new admissions and directed to discharge the under-treatment patients.

The Neuropsychiatric Awareness and Rehabilitation Institute (NARI) in Lahore was also served show-cause notice as well.

Besides, the PHC teams sealed another 33 quacks’ outlets in Lahore, Kasur and Sheikhupura.

In Lahore, 14 centres were closed down, in Sheikhupura 11 and in Kasur eight. In Lahore, City Poly Clinic, Wazeer Clinic, Jamshaid Clinic, Mitho Clinic, Sabir Clinic, Waris Clinic, Shahbaz Clinic, Ali Medical Store, Sakeena Memorial Clinic, Al-Saif Clinic, Al-Shifa Clinic, Aslam Clinic and BJS Clinic were sealed.

Of the 139 centres of quacks visited previously, 39 were found to have closed their outlets, said the spokesperson.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2018