LAHORE, Jan 29: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has asked the King Edward Medical College faculty to concentrate on research as this is the weak area in medical education so far.

He was speaking at a function held to mark the World Leprosy Day by dermatology department Unit-I of the KEMC on Saturday.

The chief minister asked the senior faculty to add research component in MBBS curricula.

He said the government would provide funds and resources to ensure that research be promoted in medical sector. The government was giving top priority to the health sector, he added.

Mr Elahi said the bill to make KEMC a medical university had been tabled in the Punjab Assembly which would approve it during the next session.

He said the government was giving funds to the health sector to improve equipment and emergency services in hospitals.

He claimed that polio has almost been eliminated and stressed on the health officials to work hard to control hepatitis and skin diseases.

Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed also stressed that Pakistan was lagging behind in the field of medical research. "We are very backward in medical technology," he added.

He said the University of Health Sciences was operating in the Punjab.

The minister said the King Edward Medical University should take up the challenge to produce innovators and inventors. He urged the KEMU to produce research papers that could find space in British medical journals.

He assured the KEMU faculty that it would be provided funds and independence to conduct research.

Dr Tahir said the government had not made health policies in isolation but in consultation with stakeholders.

He said the government was giving handsome salary package and other incentives to faculty members joining the Multan Institute of Cardiology.

The government was also making a project to send specialist doctors to rural health centres and tehsil headquarters hospitals.

German NGO representative in Pakistan Dr Chris Schmotzer stressed on integrating leprosy in general health policy.

She said there was a danger that leprosy may reemerge.

Dermatology department head Prof Dr Atif Hasnain Kazmi said leprosy was a chronic and communicable disease that affects skin, peripheral nerves and eyes. The incubation period of the disease ranges from two to five years. The disease was presented as anaesthetic patches, nodules, enlarged nerves or various eye problems.

Prof Kazmi said untreated patients were the major cause of spread of the disease. Skin to skin transmission of disease was also possible, he added.

He said there were 980 registered patients at the Mayo Hospital. It was providing free drugs and domiciliary treatment facilities to the patients.

He said the department was also following-up its patients during and after the treatment.

Prof Kazmi sought the CM's help to upgrade the dermatology department as it was understaffed and short of space. He demanded that a post of consultant should be devoted to the Unit-I to improve its performance in the leprosy eradication programme besides promoting research activities.

Mayo Hospital acting medical superintendent Prof Dr I. A. Naveed also spoke on the occasion.