Daily Times

LAHORE: Taking notice of the uploading of videos filmed during surgeries at a hospital in Ahmadpur Sharqia on the social media, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a report from the provincial minister for primary and secondary health and the health secretary.

He directed that the matter be instigated from every respect and the responsible be identified for taking legal action against the elements involved in this incident.

It may be mentioned here that earlier Punjab Health Minister Khawaja Imran Nazir had also directed the health director general to submit a report over the incident at the earliest. He also ordered strict action against those involved.

Turning the operation theatre into a movie set, the doctors at the Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital in Ahmadpur Sharqia tehsil of Bhawalpur district crossed all limits of professional ethics and morals when they made the video of a delivery operation of a woman in the presence of another patient and later posted it on the social media.

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting was held under the chair of Shehbaz Sharif to review the progress on Khadim-e-Punjab Ujala Programme.

Addressing the meeting, the chief minister said that a plan had been devised to transfer 20,000 schools situated in remote and far-flung areas of the province on the solar energy through this programme. The first phase of this programme will be started from southern Punjab and a total of 10,861 schools of southern Punjab districts will be provided the facility of solar energy. Provision of best of the best educational atmosphere to the students is the priority of the government and therefore, schools will be provided the facility of solar energy. He said that Khadim-e-Punjab Ujala Programme will go a long way in providing conducive atmosphere to the students and added that this programme will be implemented with speed. Like other development projects of the Punjab government, this Programme will also be an example of its own with regard to quality and transparency and a third-party audit of the project will also be conducted. The benchmarks have been settled to execute this programme with speed, he added.

Adviser Dr Umer Saif, chief secretary, secretaries of energy, industry, C&W, finance and information as well as experts and consultants attended the meeting, while Minister Rana Mashhood and Schools Education Secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik participated through the video link from the Bahawalpur Commissioner’s Office. German expert Gerwin Dreesmann also attended the meeting from Germany through video link and Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif talked to him in German language fluently.

Separately, Shehbaz Sharif said that the takeover of October 12, 1999, was a deep conspiracy to obstruct the journey of development and prosperity of the nation, adding that the nation was still facing the negative consequences of this undemocratic and unconstitutional step.

In a statement, the chief minister said that October 12, 1999, was the darkest day in the democratic and political history of the country when a dictator dethroned the popularly elected democratic government through unconstitutional mean. He said the process of national development and prosperity has always been weakened during the dictatorial regimes and had the democratic process not been sabotaged during different tenures of national history, the country would have not been facing the acute problems today and the state of the country would have been altogether different, as well. He said political workers and leaders suffering difficulties during the martial law tenure are our heroes. He said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had always played an effective role for the strengthening of democracy and democratic institutions, and added that solution of country’s problems lied in continuity of democracy and adherence to the constitution. “For the sake of brighter future of the democracy, we will have to give priority to the national development by setting aside personal stakes. Today, we should make a sovereign pledge that we shall not make any step against democracy and the constitution to succeed,” concluded the chief minister.

Published in Daily Times, October 12^th 2017.