Daily Times

LAHORE: A nine-member Turk delegation of public health experts has completed the assessment regarding the extent of implementation of family medicine model and early disease warning system on the analogy of Turkish healthcare system in Kasur district as a pilot project.

This was disclosed by the head of the Turkish delegation, Dr Hassan Shah, in the concluding meeting with Punjab Additional Chief Secretary Shumail Ahmad Khawaja on Saturday at the office of Infrastructure Development Authority Punjab. It is pertinent to mention here that the delegation was on a 10-day tour of Punjab.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Hassan said that the family medicine information system and a pathological laboratory service would be established before the launch of the pilot project with the collaboration of Turkish public health experts.

The Punjab government had appointed 10 dedicated field coordinators to accomplish the task, while the Turkish government would nominate five permanent consultants to run this collaborative programme all over the province in the future, he added.

Shumail Khawaja informed the delegates that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif wanted collaboration in another project to induct 100 motorcycle-riding health personnel, equipped with first-aid boxes.

He said that these riders would work under the Rescue 1122 Emergency Services in areas where four-wheeler ambulances cannot operate due to narrow passages and traffic jams, and added that the project would start from Lahore.

He said that the provincial government wanted to outsource non-core clinical services, medical research, diagnostic facilities, incineration, laundry services, parking and security arrangements of two hospitals – one in Lahore and the other in Faisalabad – along with two secondary healthcare hospitals of Sheikhupura and Muzaffargarh districts.

“The Punjab government will also seek technical collaboration in short-term training of hospital managers and nurses, apart from establishing family health services model and emergency services command and control system in the public sector hospitals all over Punjab,” he added.

Khawaja Salman Rafique, Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir, Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Secretary Najam Ahmad Shah and Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jan Khan were also present on the occasion.