LAHORE, Nov 27: The Punjab government will get the draft legislation for upgradation of the King Edward Medical College as a degree-awarding university approved from the cabinet in its next meeting. The draft law will then immediately be taken to the Punjab Assembly for final approval.

This was stated by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Saturday while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Punjab Institute of Preventive Ophthalmology (PIPO) and launching of Vision-2020 at the KEMC. He also laid the foundation of a surgical tower at the Mayo Hospital and a girls hostel.

He said that he had announced the KEMC upgradation as King Edward Medical University (KEMU) without any groundwork during his last visit in July this year. "Though I had no intentions to declare the KEMC as a university, principal Prof Dr Mumtaz Hasan's persuasions and continuous slogans raised by students had compelled him to make the announcement," he said. He said: "This announcement put me in a great trouble as I received opposition from almost all quarters concerned."

Consequently, Mr Elahi said that he had to meet President General Pervez Musharraf personally and request him to help him out for making announcement regarding the KEMC upgradation. He said that Gen Musharraf had then agreed to the extent that the KEMU would only be a degree-awarding university and not an affiliating institution.

The CM said the government was providing every possible help to the KEMC and now it was the duty of the faculty and its students to do worldclass research work and impart quality medical education. "Now, the KEMC faculty and students must show with their future research work and ability that they deserved to get a university status for their institution," he said. He also said that the whole blame for making the KEMC a university would on him, if the faculty and its students failed to come up to the expectations.

Responding to slogans raised by young doctors on the occasion, he said the government would give a good news regarding regular appointments of young doctors through the Punjab Public Service Commission in two weeks. On the basis of announcement made by him during the last visit, the CM said that the government was in the process of finalizing modalities to recruit young doctors through the PPSC on a permanent basis.

The CM said the decision was being taken on the recommendations of Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed, who briefed him that qualified doctors were leaving the country.

On the inauguration of the PIPO and launching of Vision-2020, the CM hoped that these two initiatives would help the Punjab to fight blindness and strive towards the 'Right to sight'. He also hoped that these initiatives would help eradicate the preventable blindness in the Punjab that make up around 80 per cent of the total blindness cases.

Saying that blindness was one of the greatest hurdles of life, he said that it was encouraging that the PIPO had taken up the challenge to fight blindness. He said that the Punjab government's district-based comprehensive eyecare programme was a step in the right direction.

Similarly, he said, the government was implementing its health initiatives, including free emergency care and medicines to patients and the pilot project of Basic Health Units in Rahim Yar Khan. He said the government was also establishing a Multan Institute of Cardiology and planning to take more such initiatives in the future.

Earlier, Federal Health Minister Naseer Khan said the government was forming new strategies to provide proper healthcare services to people all over the country. He hoped that the project Vision-2020 would completely eradicate the preventable blind from the Punjab.

Mr Khan said the Senate had unanimously passed a bill allowing healthcare institutions to treat the injured people before entering into formalities of medico-legal cases. Earlier, he said, the hospitals were required to register medico-legal cases and then treat the injured. "This negative law that remained in vogue for the last 50 years had taken lives of many innocent lives," he said.

He also urged the masses to avoid smoking, fast food and obesity and adopt healthy lifestyles.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed said the government was striving to improve the lot of the doctors. He said the government would give the KEMC a leadership role in the country.

KEMC and allied hospitals' board of management chairman Prof Dr Fateh Khan Akhtar, principal Prof Dr Mumtaz Hasan, PIPO project director Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan, NGO Sight Savers' representative Dr Haroon Rasheed Awan and Fred Hollows Foundation, Australia, representative Dr Rubina Gillani also spoke.