LAHORE: Chief Minister Usman Buzdar says the finance department has released Rs870 million and financial assistance will reach 177,000 needy families that are suffering due to suspension of economic activity in the wake of coronavirus spread threat.

“The financial assistance will reach the needy families on Thursday (today),” he said.

The chief minister was speaking to media persons after visiting the 1,000-bed field hospital set up at the Expo Centre on Wednesday.

Mr Buzdar said the CM Insaf Imdad Programme had been launched and daily wage earners, who lost their livelihood during lockdown in the wake of coronavirus spread threat, would get Rs4,000 financial assistance through a transparent and efficient system from Thursday (today). He said Rs10 billion had been allocated under the package to assist 2.5 million families across the province.

The chief minister said the government was now focusing more on developing its capacity and arranging diagnostic kits so that a maximum number of people could be examined. He said Rs620 million had already been released for setting up eight diagnostic labs and added that the work on labs had begun.

Mr Buzdar said the Raiwind city had been quarantined due to surfacing of coronavirus cases. He said he had visited the Expo Centre nine days ago and now a 1,000-bed hospital was ready for the coronavirus patients. He said he was also visiting other hospitals in the province and examining the availability of facilities.

He said protective kits had been provided to the medical staff besides other facilities and added that they had also been offered training.

“We are monitoring all indicators across Punjab on a daily basis,” he said.

The chief minister said provincial ministers had been assigned duties to supervise measures for dealing with coronavirus in their districts. He said the ministers would also monitor the distribution of financial aid under the CM Insaf Imdad Programme along with the monitoring of wheat procurement.

He said wheat would be procured at Rs1,400 per maund. Similarly, he said, the government had issued SOPs for wheat procurement centres and wheat would be purchased on “a first come, first served” basis.

The chief minister stressed that staying home was the best solution to coronavirus.

Earlier, health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and Lahore Commissioner Saif Anjum briefed the chief minister on the facilities available in the field hospital. The chief minister also himself examined different facilities.

Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, MPAs, administrative secretaries of information and specialized healthcare and medical education, and DG Rescue 1122 were also present.

BOUQUETS: The chief minister on Wednesday sent bouquets to doctors and paramedics engaged in the treatment of coronavirus patients in various hospitals and quarantine centres.

The administrative officers of districts presented the bouquets to the doctors and paramedics on behalf of the chief minister.

“The doctors and paramedics are our heroes and their services will always be remembered,” the chief minister said in a statement.

RELEASED: Various people detained for violating Section 144 have been released on the direction of the chief minister.

The chief minister has appealed to the citizens to follow the government instructions as all the steps have been taken to protect their lives.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020