LAHORE, Feb 7 (Millat + APP): Provincial Minister for Specialised
Healthcare and Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafiq on Tuesday
told the Punjab Assembly that all district level government
hospitals were being provided with CT Scan machines by the
end year 2017.
“The step is being taken to minimize the flow of patients
to hospitals in Lahore,” he added.
Answering queries by lawmakers during Question-Hour session,
the minister said, the Punjab government was giving top priority
to provide best medical facilities to the masses and made a
considerable budget allocation in this regard.
He said, a comprehensive plan was in place to improve the
condition of government hospitals by equipping them with latest
medical gadgets including oxygen cylinders, ventilators, CT Scan
and X-Ray machines etc.
To a question by Jama’at e Islami Parliamentary leader
Dr Wasim Akhtar said that 209 cases of Open Heart Surgery
were carried out in Mayo Hospital Lahore during the period
of June 30, 2012 to 1st July 2013. Out of these patients,
he said, 133 underwent by-pass operation while valves of 76
patients were changed. Seven patients were expired, he added.
He replied to another question by the same questioner
that separate wards were handling cases of mentally sick
and addict patients in all government hospitals across the
province.
He said six clinical psychiatrists were appointed in Punjab
Institute of Mental Health while posts for 153 psychiatrists had
been sanctioned in various hospitals.
Responding to a question by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
member Mian Tariq Mehmood, the minister said, a burn unit was
operational at Jinnah Hospital Lahore and extending complete surgery
facilities to the patients with burn injuries.
He maintained that the number ventilators was being
doubled in hospitals in Lahore at initial phase while
these would be provided to other districts of the province.
The minister, agreeing with a questioner Dr Muhammad
Afzal, admitted that no unit dealing with acid throwing
cases in district Bahawalpur was existed. However, he said,
the government was intending to set up a burn unit in
Bahawalpur Victoria Hospital.
Responding to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Dr Murad Raas’ question,
he said that in General Hospital Lahore, medicines worth Rs 290,087,760
were purchased and distributed free of cost among deserving patients
during 2013. In Mayo Hospital, medicines worth Rs 444,154,598, in
Ganga Ram Hospital Rs 258,802,244 and Services Hospital medicines
worth Rs 514,913,861 were given to patients during the period under question.
On a question by Dr Aalia Aftab, the minister said, a total of
428 ventilators and 11 CT Scan machines were at hospitals in district
Lahore and for the purchase of new 115 ventilators, an allocation had already been made in the Annual Development Programme.