RAWALPINDI, Dec 19: The health planners put oncology on the back burner and concentrated on fancy specialities, said Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed.

Speaking at the concluding session of the 11th Annual Cancer Conference entitled "Onco 2004" here on Sunday, the minister said the Punjab government was doing its part to improve cancer treatment by upgrading all radiation facilities working under its control.

He said the surgeons and general practitioners were not encouraging establishment of oncology as a speciality adding that they often tend to spread misconceptions about the disease and treatment procedures.

It's primarily because of this attitude that the number of oncologists had remained low though this was one of the most thriving specialities, he added. The minister said allocation for health spending was very small despite the massive increase made last year. However, he said what was more important was that the utilization rate of the allocated budget during the past 30 years had hovered around 22 per cent while the rest of it lapsed.

Last year, one of the major steps taken was the improved utilization of the budget and about 85 per cent of the allocation was consumed, he added. Dr Javed said the Punjab government had approved establishment of Punjab Institute of Organ Transplant in Lahore with satellite centres in other cities. .

He emphasized developing a database for different ailments, as this would have a direct influence on the treatment of different diseases. He feared that in the absence of the database, doctors might be under-treating or over-treating the medical conditions.

The minister was of the opinion that the upcoming Institute of Organ Transplant might help in developing such database. He said the ambulance service pilot project was being successfully run in Lahore and very soon it would be replicated in Rawalpindi and later on in other cities of the province.

Surgeon General Pakistan Army Lt Gen Syed Ahad Najmi, speaking on this occasion, asked the clinicians not to venture into irrational therapeutics. He said the clinicians bore great responsibility towards providing treatment and comfort to the patients and satisfaction to their relatives in the most cost-effective manner.