LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique skipped scheduled visits to public sector health facilities in Multan on Friday and rather attended a wedding ceremony along with his official cavalcade comprising multiple SUVs and police mobile.

The visit attracted strong criticism from social media after it transpired that the minister had attended the wedding ceremony of a son of a doctor who was recently held guilty of gross negligence in a medicines theft case and was awarded a major penalty under the Peeda Act.

The minister returned to Lahore without discharging official assignments/meetings as announced officially and conveyed to the higher authorities of Multan, including the police.

The issue came to the limelight when pictures of the minister with the doctor went viral on social media where critics accused him of misusing official resources for his private trip. Multan is 340km from Lahore.

Kh Salman defends his visit being a public figure

On Thursday, the office of the minister for the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department issued an alert for the Multan commissioner, regional police officer (RPO), deputy commissioner (DC), city police officer (CPO) and the information officer of Multan and intimated them about the official visit of Khwaja Rafique.

“Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique will proceed on an official tour to Multan as per the schedule/programme given in the letter,” reads the notification.

The office of the Punjab Health Department mentioned the official vehicles, including GBK-313 (Fortuner) and GBK- 434 (Double Cabin) in the letter to be noted for the senior officers including the commissioner, RPO and others for protocol.

They were further informed about the busy schedule of the minister in Multan that would start from Lahore at 8:30am and reach the Circuit House in Multan at 12 noon.

As per the next schedule, the health minister was supposed to visit the Nishtar Medical University at 1pm, Nishtar Hospital at 2pm, Nishtar Hospital-2 at 3pm and would leave for Lahore at 4pm on Friday.

Some officials in the NMU and the attached government hospitals told this reporter that the minister had not visited the places he was scheduled to visit and rather attended the wedding before his return to Lahore.

MINISTER: Khwaja Salman Rafique clarified his position saying that being a political figure there was no bar on him to attend private ceremonies.

He said that though he didn’t visit the NMU and attached hospitals in Multan as per the officially announced schedule, he held some meetings at Circuit House which were related to the health issues.

“I spent a busy day in Multan where I attended a private marriage party and met many people being a politician,” the minister said.

“Some elements involved in corrupt practices in the health sector are trying to make my official tour controversial and I will keep hammering them for looting public funds for their vested interests,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2025