‘Steps taken against maternal mortality’

LAHORE
THE Punjab Health Department has said that concrete steps have been taken by the government for the mother and child healthcare, minimising the maternal mortality rate, besides population welfare. The spokesman for the Health Department said that integrated Mother and Newborn Child Health (IRMNCH) Programme had been launched in Punjab to be supervised by the Additional Director General Health under which round the clock labour room facilities are being provided in 150 basic health units and the number of these BHUs will be increased to 650 by 30th of April 2015.
According to a handout issued on Thursday, the spokesman further said that steps had also been taken for optimum utilisation of grant provided by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for different healthcare programmes including mother and child health and EPI. Additional Director General (IRMNCH) Dr. Ijaz Ahmed Sheikh told the media that tenders had been invited for prequalification of firms and an advertisement was published on 10th of January in the local newspapers for procurement of contraceptives. He said that an amount of Rs.550 million had been allocated for this purpose. He further informed the media that tenders would be opened on February 12, 2015. The spokesman further said that Rs.1025 million from the DFID grant had been allocated for the provision of food supplement to pregnant women and undernourished children. He said that a summary had been sent to the Chief Minister for getting approval for the purchase of food supplement through the UNICEF while remaining funds would be utilised for uplift of different health programmes and purchase of ambulances. The spokesman added that a delegation of the DFID visited Lahore recently and held meetings with the high-ups of the departments concerned and expressed its satisfaction over the progress of the programme and gave its consent to issue the next installment of the grant. Therefore, the news regarding the lapse or

stoppage of the DFID’s grant is baseless, he emphasised.
deaths: The Punjab Health Department has claimed that minor children of Allah Nawaz, residents of Basti Malana, Tehsil Kot Chutha District DG Khan, have not died due to measles vaccine as the vaccination team of the Health Department did not inoculate anti-measles vaccine to three-month old M Usman and Khunsa Eman.
The spokesman for the Health Department said that both children remained ill and malnourished since their birth and the last medicine was herbal found in their home. According to a handout issued on Thursday, the spokesman further said children previously received routine vaccination of the BCG and Polio while first doze of Penta-I and PCV-10 was given on February 3 at 10:00am. It is pertinent to mention that being less than six-month-old children they have not been given measles vaccine.