LAHORE: USAID has offered cooperation for setting up five mother and child hospitals in different districts of Punjab. During a meeting with Minister for Health Dr Yasmin Rashid here on Tuesday, a delegation led by USAID Director (Health) Sangeeta Patel also offered to join hands with the Punjab government in its initiatives for strengthening healthcare services in the public sector.

Acknowledging the initiatives of the government, Ms Patel said Punjab was playing a leading role for strengthening its healthcare services. Discussing various joint projects in the healthcare sector, Sangeeta Patel said USAID would enhance its cooperation for achieving certain goals.

“Mother and child hospitals will definitely reduce mortality rate during deliveries. We are ready to provide all possible technical and financial support for the establishment of these hospitals,” she said.

Earlier, Dr Yasmin apprised the USAID delegation members of the initiatives for saving lives of mothers and children. She said that for the first time exclusively for mother and child one hospital each would be set up in five districts.

A state-of-the-art mother and child centre would also be set up at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. All-out efforts were under way to ensure the provision of healthcare facilities at the gross roots in accordance with the targets given by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. She said a special monitoring cell had been established to monitor development schemes at the district level.

Meanwhile, Dr Yasmin Rashid attended the convocation of the Institute of Child Health as chief guest and distributed degrees among the graduates in seven disciplines.

UHS RESULTS: Maha Zainab of the Nishtar Medical University, Multan, secured first position by securing 892/1000 marks in the Third Professional MBBS annual examination 2018.

According to the results announced on Tuesday, Hira Amin and Hiba Tahrim, both of the Lahore Medical and Dental College, got second and third positions with 881 and 869 marks, respectively.

Out of the 5,286 candidates from 39 affiliated medical colleges, 4,430 were declared successful with a pass percentage of 85.15. The result of 84 candidates was put on RL list.

Supplementary exams will commence from Jan 24, 2019.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018