TAXILA: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said the health authorities would probe the emergence of a poliovirus type 2 case in the Hazro town of Attock and action would be taken against all those responsible for not covering the child in anti-polio drives.

Talking to newsmen in Attock on Tuesday, she said a committee led by Special Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Ajmal Bhatti would conduct a probe into the resurfacing of the vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) - a strain of polio for which vaccinations in Pakistan were halted in 2014 - in Hazro town after 23 years. She said negotiation had also been initiated with the WHO for provision of necessary vaccination to Pakistan which was halted in 2014.

About the establishment of a mother and child hospital in a seven-room building which was vacated by Comsats University in Attock, the minister said the 100-bed hospital on 72 kanals would be established this year.

Dr Rashid said at present there was only one gynae ward at the DHQ hospital Attock having only 22 beds which were not meeting the needs of the expectant mothers and their children. She said a nursing college would also be established in the hospital and the government would spend Rs4 billion on execution of these projects.

She said to provide better mother and child healthcare facilities across Punjab during the current fiscal year, the health department would establish five hospitals in Attock, Bahawalnagar, Mianwali, Layyah and Rajanpur. She said remarkable progress has been made in the health sector across Punjab and now most of the public sector hospitals are well equipped.

She said 98pc of the basic health units are now having qualified doctors, paramedics and medicines.

She said the building of the DHQ hospital which was damaged due to a gas leak two years ago would also be reconstructed during the current fiscal year.

Responding to a question, she said legal heirs of doctors and paramedics who died of Covid-19 will be given a Shuhada package while doctors and paramedics looking after the coronavirus patients will be given double salaries and a risk allowance.

Public Accounts Committee Chairman Syed Yawar Abbas Bokhari, deputy commissioner Attock Ali Anan Qamar, District Health Authority Chief Executive Dr Sohail Ijazand others were also present.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020