Buzdar opens 15-day typhoid vaccination drive

LAHORE:Chief Minister Usman Buzdar inaugurated a 15-day typhoid vaccination drive at a local hotel here on Wednesday.

During the first phase starting from February 1, children from 9 months to 15 years will be vaccinated in 12 districts while the second phase will begin in the month of May to vaccinate 1.93 crore children in urban areas of 24 other districts.

Addressing the ceremony, the CM thanked the stakeholders for their cooperation and hoped the typhoid conjugate vaccine will protect the children from the fatal disease.

The PTI led government is working day and night to improve the quality of life of the common man and special attention was given to the health of mother & child, he added.

The CM said the construction of 7 new mother & child hospitals has been started in Lahore, Layyah, Rajanpur, Sialkot, Bahawalnagar, Attock and Mianwali. New medical colleges and universities will also be established, phase-wise, while the University of Child Health was being established at Children’s Hospital in Lahore, he said.

It is sanguine that the scope of Sehat Sahulat Card Programme has been extended to 36 districts and free medicines were also being provided to patients through Insaf Medicine Card facility, the CM said and added Rs8 billion were being spent on upgrade of hospitals in Attock, Chiniot, DG Khan, Mianwali, Jhang, Kasur, Lodhran and Rajanpur through the prime minister’s health initiative. Alongwith it, around 32 thousand recruitments have been made through PPSC to overcome staff shortage in hospitals. Giving details about the health sector reforms, the chief minister said 20 new biosafety level-3 labs have increased the daily corona testing capacity from 400 to 25 thousand as the government spent Rs14 billion on the treatment of coronavirus patients. Four such labs will be established soon, he added.

Meanwhile, Rs10billion were earmarked for the procurement of the latest medical equipment for government hospitals. The provincial cabinet has also approved the start of a universal healthcare programme to provide free treatment facilities to 12 crore people. The first phase of this programme will kick-start from Sahiwal and DG Khan, he added. The CM announced adding typhoid conjugate vaccination in the schedule of immunisation programme, adding Pakistan will be the first country to take this initiative. This drive is a noble cause to be performed with due diligence by the staff concerned, he added and vowed to free Punjab from all diseases. Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid appreciated that every healthcare initiative has been fully supported by the CM, adding centres will be established in hospitals, health centres and schools to vaccinate children. The whole world has appreciated the timely steps taken by the provincial government to deal with coronavirus, she added. Minister Murad Raas termed children the future of the country and said the government is fully committed to improving education and healthcare facilities. Health Secretary Muhammad Usman disclosed that typhoid vaccine will be administered to children from March 2021. WHO and Unicef representatives also spoke. Health Adviser Hanif Pitafi, SACM Firdous Ashiq Awan and others attended the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Muhammad Arshad called on Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar at his office on Wednesday and reposed his trust in the chief minister.

The chief minister assured of solving the constituency related problems and issued immediate instructions in this regard. Muhammad Arshad appreciated that the chief minister had always solved the problems of the MPAs adding that the respect and honour, given by CM Usman Buzdar, was unthinkable in the past.

Talking on the occasion, the chief minister re-emphasised that MPAs were his lieutenants and they would be given due respect and honour by him. He said that he treated the problems of the public representatives as his own and his doors were open to all, he asserted. “I am always available for public service and parliamentarians' constituency-related problems will be solved on a priority basis, he further said.

The chief minister avowed that PTI was the most popular political party in the country which had served the masses with conviction and hard work. On the other side, PDM consists of the rejected elements having no solicitude towards the country, he continued. While regretting that spread of anarchy and chaos is the sole agenda of the political cabal, the chief minister made it clear that looters' propaganda cannot hoodwink the people. The nefarious narrative of the opposition has been badly exposed and the propaganda-based politics is the identity of the opposition parties, he added. The PTI government is most transparent while PM Imran Khan is the strong voice of 220 million people, he held. The government will complete its constitutional term despite opposition's pother and the journey of public service will be accelerated with a renewed vigour, concluded the CM.