LAHORE: At least 1,124 nurses and 342 pharmacists would be hired for district headquarters and tehsil headquarters hospitals to improve nurse-to-bed ratio. These recruitments are part of a revamping plan of 25 DHQs hospitals and 15 THQs hospitals, which would be completed during the current year, said Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazeer on Sunday. The minister said that computerised tomography machines were also being provided at all DHQ hospitals under the public-private partnership programme. He said that applications for recruitments of nurses and pharmacists had been invited and for this purpose a written test would be conducted through the National Testing Service (NTS) for posts of pharmacists, both male and female. Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan said that an advertisement had been sent to newspapers for appointment of nurses and pharmacists. He disclosed that 993 nurses would be recruited in district headquarters hospitals and 131 in tehsil headquarters hospitals. “Similarly, 303 and 39 pharmacists would be appointed to district headquarters hospitals and tehsil headquarters hospitals, respectively,” he said, and added that application forms could be downloaded from the web site of NTS) and the advertisement could be downloaded from the website of the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department. He said that recruitments would be facility-specific, non-transferable and contract based. “Aspirants must specifically mention name of DHQ/THQ hospitals at the application form,” the health secretary said. He observed that the appointments would not only improve performance of hospitals but also increase medical facilities for patients.