SAHIWAL: The children’s ward of the Sahiwal District Headquarters (DHQ) Teaching Hospital has been linked with Children’s Hospital of Lahore.

This was announced by Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid during a visit to the hospital on Monday. She visited different wards and also held meetings with the hospital administration.

She said specialists and consultants from the Lahore’s Children Hospital would visit the Sahiwal DHQ Teaching Hospital on a regular basis. “Paramedics would get training in Lahore hospital,” she said. The training of paramedics will improve the quality of service delivery.

Also, the minister allowed the hospital administration to hire 24 nurses on a walk-in interview basis.

It is learnt the minister noticed the shortage of beds in the children’s ward. She said 19 more beds would be provided to the hospital. It is learnt the minister accepted the demands of hospital’s administration about posting more post-graduate residents (PGRs) there.

Dr Muhammad Tariq, principal of the Sahiwal Medical College, told Dawn presently 12 PGRs were working in the hospital and hopefully 10 more would be posted at the Sahiwal hospital.

The minister also allowed the administration to develop a PC-I to buy a centrally oxygen systems both for the hospital and the children’s ward, adding that she would ensure the allocation of the financial resources to buy the system.

She told reporters that the death of three infants at the Sahiwal hospital was because of clinical reasons.

Prof Tariq, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Zaman Wattoo, and Medical Superintendent Dr Shahid Nazir accompanied the minster in the hospital.

Dr Shahid told Dawn the minister wanted to improve service delivery mechanism of the biggest hospital of Sahiwal Division.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2019