LAHORE, Dec 18: Federal health minister Naseer Khan has said public hospitals should not be charged commercial electricity rates.

Speaking at the national seminar on immunization at the Children’s Hospital here on Wednesday, he said that he would take up the issue at the next cabinet meeting.

He said that he would also suggest that the money given to public hospitals for purchase of medicines should not be used for purchasing medical gases, which should be covered by a separate budget.

The minister said the boards of governors in autonomous health institutions should not ask the government for funds and must use their own resources for the purpose.

He also emphasized the need for making hospitals clean and tidy.

He said the federal government was actively pursuing the immunization programme and would make the country polio-free by July. He said the government was also trying to get the international donor agencies provide funds for anti-hepatitis vaccine and immunize people against the deadly disease free of cost.

He said centres of excellence like Children’s Hospital should also be established in other parts of the country.

Earlier, the director of Children’s Hospital project, Prof Saidul Haq, said the hospital was screening patients for AIDS and hepatitis right from the beginning.