LAHORE, July 9: Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed has directed the officials to conduct research in various public health disciplines for the benefit of master trainers. Speaking at a departmental meeting at his office on Saturday, the minister said the master trainers would transmit knowledge to public health managers at district and tehsil levels so that better facilities could be provided to the people by utilizing the existing government resources. He stressed upon the need for in-service training of young doctors in administration, budget and accounts matters as these people have to serve in small cities and far-flung areas of the province.

He asked the department officials to arrange courses to achieve the identified training needs of health personnel as well as co-ordinate and collaborate with different organizations in health-related developmental activities.

The minister said technical support should be provided to the district health authorities so that the district governments could be able to provide better health facilities to the people at grassroots level. He said data without analysis was rubbish and young doctors must be trained in data collection, feedback of seminars, courses and programmes. A planned research should be conducted on how hospital infection could be decreased.

The minister told the health department officials that the developmental budget had been increased by 400 per cent during the last two years. He said Rs3.3 billion had been provided for the current financial year. He said the logistics gaps had been filled and various programmes on disease control were being initiated. He vowed that the primary healthcare infrastructure would be improved under the Chief Minister’s Health Sector Reforms during the current financial year.