0
LAHORE, April 27: The federal ministry of health has given a 'last chance' to private medical colleges to complete all operational requirements by July 30. The colleges that fail to meet the requirements of infrastructure, teaching aids, equipment, academic council, mortuary and attached teaching hospital by July 30 will be closed down.
This was stated by Federal Health Minister Naseer Khan while talking to Dawn after the second-day proceedings of a WHO regional conference for the national TB control programme managers in a local hotel on Tuesday.
Stating that the time limit had been extended for the third consecutive time, the minister said the government would take direct action after expiry of the time limit. He said that private medical colleges were initially given time up to December, but the deadline was extended till March 30 on their demand.
He said the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) had informed each and every private medical college to complete all requirements or leave the field. Mr Khan said the mess was created by PMDC board members, who had opened their own medical colleges and did not bother to fulfil the requirements. Now, he said, the PMDC had been strengthened and asked to tackle the matter effectively.
DRUG REGISTRATION: The minister termed Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed's demand for drug registration authority illogical. He said the federal health ministry would never extend this authority to the Punjab. He advised the Punjab health minister to concentrate on his own jurisdiction of work.
He said a lot of work needed to be done to improve healthcare services at teaching and district headquarters hospitals, rural health centres and basic health units. He said the provincial minister was also required to focus on prevention of diseases.
Answering a question, Mr Khan said the health ministry had prepared a plan to collaborate with the provincial health departments to launch a crackdown on supply of spurious and substandard medicines.
ANTI-POLIO VACCINATION: The federal health minister said the number of polio cases in the country had risen to eight, including three in the Punjab. In order to reduce the number of polio cases, he said, the government had decided to launch a mopup anti-polio vaccination campaign across the country in June.
Answering the question that experts did not recommend vaccination in summer when the polio virus was not dormant, the minister the government would ensure the cold chain for polio vaccine for better results. As soon as no case was found in the country, he said the government would not become complacent but launch strong followup vaccination campaigns to eradicate polio forever.
