Day care centre & genome sequencing lab inaugurated at KMU

PESHAWAR: Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra has said that the role played by Khyber Medical University Public Health Reference Lab (KMU-PHRL) during the corona pandemic is unforgettable.

“With the provision of Genome Sequencing Facility, KMU-PHRL has reached a new milestone which will not only help in timely diagnosis of various public health diseases but also in preventing any disease from becoming epidemic,” the health minister said while inaugurating Genome Sequencing Lab and Day Care & Breastfeeding Centre at KMU.

The vice-chancellor KMU, Prof. Dr. Ziaul Haq, Special Secretary Health Dr Syed Farooq Jamil, Registrar Prof. Dr. Muhammad Saleem Gandapur, Director PHRL Dr. Yasir Yousafzai and other officials were also present on the occasion.

He said the inauguration of the Day Care and Breastfeeding Centre at KMU was a model for the Department of Health as well as other institutions in the province where women work.

“The present government is providing various scholarships to talented and needy students in terms of education and hostel expenses through other schemes including Ehsas programme and this will be further expanded in the coming days,” he added.

Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that the journey started by KMU-PHRL from corona’s 20 tests a day. “Today, thank God, 4000 tests are being conducted here daily, while during the last one and a half years, more than eight lakh (800000) tests have been conducted here. This is clear evidence of the excellent performance of this lab for which the vice chancellor, the director of the Lab and other support staff deserve congratulations.”

He said that it was commendable that after NIH Islamabad, KMU-PHRL has become the second largest public sector lab in the country where genome sequencing facilities would be available.

He said that the availability of these facilities would not only help in the prompt diagnosis of infectious diseases but would also pave the way for timely prevention and treatment of the diagnosed ailments.

He said that the health budget has been increased from Rs 86 billion to Rs 146 billion during the last three years as a result of which the people of the province are getting the best healthcare facilities at their doorstep.

Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that the accelerated vaccination campaign has resulted in controlling the expected loss of precious human lives in the fourth wave of Corona and now Alhamdulillah, the death toll from Corona has been steadily declining from 7% to almost 2 %.

He said that the vaccination rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reached 40 % in the age group

of 18 years and above which is many times higher than other provinces.

He said that in terms of vaccination, Chitral is on top in all the districts of the province where 75%, while in our 10 districts more than 50% population have been vaccinated.

“However, we are trying to speed up the vaccination campaign to counter any other possible corona outbreak,” he added.