LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has opposed certain initiatives of the Punjab chief minister in the health sector, urging her to build new hospitals instead of revamping the incumbent health facilities.

People’s Doctors Forum Punjab President Dr Khayyam Hafeez said the Punjab government should build new hospitals instead of revamping the old ones.

He said the health sector situation cannot be improved by demolishing walls of the old cardiac centres and making things bigger and the government should rather develop new facilities keeping in view the population growth.

He said instead of informing the chief minister the ground realities, billions of rupees were being spent on advertisements in the name of free heart surgery for children, while this facility is being offered in Punjab for the past three decades at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Children’s, Mayo, Gulab Devi hospitals, and cardiac centres in Multan, Faisalabad and Wazirabad.

Dr Khayyam said renovation work in most of the Punjab hospitals took place during the tenure of caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi.

He called for checking the ‘herds’ of attendants instead of converting green belts of hospitals into attendant inns.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2024