KARACHI, March 7: Federal Health Minister Muhammad Naseer Khan on Tuesday called for vacation of 23 acres of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre encroached upon by land mafia and others during the years.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 43rd annual medical symposium of the JPMC, the minister said it was unfortunate that under a conspiracy the precious land of Jinnah hospital had been usurped.

He asked JPMC executive director and federal health secretary to move appropriately and approach the governor and chief minister to get the land vacated and return it to the federal hospital, irrespective of the fact how influential or powerful the grabbers were.

The minister also stressed the need to seal all illegal entries to the hospital and eliminate trace-passing, erection of boundary wall with only one gate for entry and exit. He said that federal government was extending all support to JPMC for an overall change in its environment to make it a purposeful medical complex benefiting the community. It would be nice if the targets were achieved during the tenure of this government, he remarked.

He said that the government paid due importance to the health of its citizens and that was why there had been a gradual increase in the budgetary allocations for the health sector. The health sector budget had been increased from Rs3.4 billion (2003-2004) to Rs10.5 billion (2005-2006). In addition, he said that the government had initiated two projects worth Rs2.5 billion and Rs6.1 billion for prevention of Hepatitis B and elimination of the water-borne diseases respectively.

The minister said that substantial amount of money was being also allocated for promotion of healthcare-oriented researches in the country and changes in the federal government hospitals had been aimed for the purpose under a long-term plan. Various schemes planned at different institutions, including the PIMS and JPMC, enjoyed the support of prime minister as well, he added and urged the doctors present at the symposium to grab the opportunities.

Emphasizing the need for radical changes, he said that senior professors should dedicate more time towards the production of sincere and disciplined medicine practitioners. He said that commercialism had come in too much in medical profession, which needed to be rooted out for the revival of old values and availability of doctors of excellence in the country.

He said that hospital authorities should ensure congenial working condition for all doctors, nurses and paramedics and other staff, which would ultimately lead to better attention and facilities to patients. Nurses are the backbone of health care system and they should be provided all respect and protection, Mr Naseer remarked.

Federal Health Secretary Syed Anwar Mahmood said that JPMC was the pioneer of postgraduate medical education in the country and it was a matter of appreciation that the hospital was delivering well despite all handicaps and financial constraints.

Earlier, JPMC executive director Prof (Dr) Mashoor Alam was flag-bearer in providing high quality medical education and training to students and medical care for the masses at tertiary level. The hospital, run by federal government, at present has beds for 1,185 indoor patients, 21 out-patient departments and 21 special out-patient clinics, while the Basic Medical Sciences Institution, College of Nursing, School of Nursing, College of Medical Technology and School of Physiotherapy were its important components in teaching programme, he added.

He informed the gathering that JPMC’s annual budget had been increased from Rs445 million to Rs657.329 million.

In addition to fresh appointments and promotions of doctors as well as other professionals at the JPMC, which started its function in army barracks about 55 years ago, it will be transformed into a four-tower multi-storey modern hospital complex soon.

The federal government had agreed to fund the project which was estimated to cost Rs6,200 million, Prod Alam added.

Among others, Prof Ghulam Mehboob, Dr Anisuddin Bhatti, Dr Seemin Jamali also spoke.

Four senior doctors, Prof Zaki K. Kazi, Prof S.H. Manzoor Zaidi, Prof S.M. Rab and Prof Sami Ashraf (absent) were given lifetime achievement awards, while Chaudhary Ashraf was awarded for best employee of the JPMC.

Later, a plenary session on “Disaster Management” was organized as part of the symposium, which was chaired by Federal Health Secretary Anwar Mahmood.

Speakers of the session included Prof Musarrat Hussain of the JPMC, Dr Fazle Hadi of the PIMS Islamabad and Prof Adibul Hassan Rizvi of the SIUT.

Dr Fazle Hadi said the nation’s response to call for help after the devastating earthquake proved that it was capable to manage any kind of disaster. He said that prior to the earthquake there existed a total of 564 health centres and hospitals in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, out of which 291 were destroyed completely, while 74 were partially damaged.

He said 6,703 patients were registered at the PIMS and its different field centres, out of which 6,066 were admitted, he said, adding that about 7,499 surgeries, including 150 cases of amputation, were performed by PIMS doctors or other group of doctors associated with it.

Prof Adibul Hassan discussed crush syndrome and its relation with renal diseases, especially in the context of earthquake.

In his concluding remarks, Anwar Mahmood said October 8 tragedy put to test in an unbelievable proportion whatsoever was available with the country as a response management system. “As the disaster is over now, we should work for developing a good mechanism for the response management, focussing on channelling volunteers,” he said.