BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab health department has slashed the Bahawal Victoria Hospital’s (BVH) medicines budget by Rs40 million in the current financial year.
Dawn has learnt officially that the Punjab government have made a provision of Rs530m in the current budget under the medicines head as compared to last fiscal’s allocation of Rs570m.
The Rs40m cut this year is considered a heavy blow to the BVH as its after effects would be borne by both indoor and outdoor patients.
When contacted BVH Medical Superintendent Dr. Aamir Mahmood Bokhari confirmed the reduction in the medicines’ annual budget and said in view of the increasing number of patients, the government should have increased the annual budget instead of cut in it.
The MS, while expressing concern over the government’s decision, said the health secretary has been requested to re-consider the allocation. He said the BVH, a major health facility of south Punjab, is providing treatment facilities to thousands of patients of four districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran and Rahim Yar Khan.
Dr Bokhari said the hospital is yet to pay successive years’ liabilities of Rs 600m while the government has also discontinued the facility of health card scheme to the patients. After clearance of Rs 600m liabilities, the BVH would have nothing to serve the patients. In these circumstances, it would be very difficulty to continue to provide medicines to thousands of indoor and outdoor patients.
He said by 2011 the BVH’s medicines annual budge had stood at Rs820m after which it was gradually decreased and now with this meagre allocation of only Rs530m, the situation has become alarming to run this health facility.
He expressed the hope that the government on his request would consider to increase the existing budget and also fill hundreds of vacant seats of medical and para-medical staff in a number of wards, including the bone marrow transplant complex here.
DELEGATION: A high-level delegation, led by Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (CUVAS) Vice Chancellor Prof .Dr .Muhammad Mazhar Ayaz, visited China to strengthen bilateral collaboration in science and agriculture.
According to a press release, the delegation returned on Wednesday. As per the VC, during discussions, agreements signed to address pressing challenges in food security and climate resilience, with prioritised collaborations in the establishment of an Agri-Tech Centre, joint research to revitalise Pakistan’s declining cotton production and cold storage technology transfer.
The VC said both sides were committed to regular training programmes, youth capacity-building initiatives, faculty/student exchanges, and organising a bilateral Sino-Pak Conference in 2026.
INTERNSHIP: A technical company of south Punjab has announced 1,000 internship opportunities for Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) students.
According to a press release, the internship opportunities were announced by company’s CEO Tauqeer Ahmed during a visit to the university.
VC Prof .Dr. Muhammad Kamran appreciated company’s professional environment and commitment to nurturing local talent and highlighted the need for closer collaboration between universities and technical industry to bridge the gap between academic learning and industry requirements.
Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2025