Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) South Punjab Fuad Hashim Rabbani paid a surprise visit to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Ahmadpur East, finding long delays in patient treatment and gaps in hospital management.
He was accompanied by Special Secretary C&W Aftab Pirzada, Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Naveed Haider, and Medical Superintendent Dr Khawar Bhutta.
The ACS inspected the emergency department, surgery and orthopaedic wards, pharmacy, and OPD, and spoke to patients. Many were waiting outside doctors’ rooms in the orthopaedic and OPD sections due to long delays.
The hospital pharmacy was found without a laptop, with staff recording medicines in the app via mobile phone. A woman complained that her husband, suffering multiple bone fractures, had not received proper treatment for three days.
Expressing displeasure, Mr Rabbani said the congestion could be eased through better time scheduling. He stressed that the medical profession is highly respectable and doctors are seen as healers, adding that a warm attitude can ease half of a patient’s suffering.
He reminded hospital staff that respecting the dignity of poor patients and providing free medicines is part of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s vision. He ordered that all patients must receive free medicines and directed the administration to address the shortcomings immediately, announcing that he would revisit soon.
South Punjab Secretariat achieving new milestones, says Special Secretary Special Secretary Higher Education South Punjab Sarfraz Ahmad has said that the South Punjab Secretariat is playing a key role in the region’s development, with progress in multiple sectors.
He was briefing a 40-member delegation of PMS officers visiting the Secretariat. The group was accompanied by MPDD Course Coordinator Mubashar Ali and Instructor Aqeel Awan. Ahmad said South Punjab holds a unique position in history, culture, and heritage, and is the country’s main grain supplier as well as a major cotton producer. The livestock sector has strong potential, with projects underway to boost halal meat production and exports.
He said ACS Fuad Hashim Rabbani is committed to fully digitising the Secretariat, which has become the first provincial department to introduce an electronic file system, now extended to all government, semi-government, and autonomous bodies. An e-procurement system has also been launched for transparency.
Ahmad highlighted the success of South Punjab’s first Artificial Intelligence and IT exhibition, with students from public and private universities showcasing innovative models. AI is also being used in traffic management and crop monitoring, and work is underway to set up an IT Park. He also mentioned steps to promote tourism, counter climate change impacts, and introduce reforms in education.