LAHORE   -   Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif Wednesday inaugurated 32 field hospitals that will be spread in different areas of Punjab to bring the health facilities at the doorsteps of the people.

“I am extremely grateful to Allah Almighty that health facilities have been brought to the doorsteps of people in a short span of six weeks,” said the chief minister while addressing the inaugural ceremony of field hospitals project in Punjab.

Maryam Nawaz explained that field hospitals are for those areas where there is no big hospital or good clinic. ”It is a complete hospital equipped with all the basic facilities available in any good clinic”, she said, adding that 32 field hospitals will become functional in different areas of Punjab from today.

Taking about salient features of the field hospitals, the chief minister said that a field hospital is a state-of-the-art healthcare facility equipped with AC, diagnostic unit, lab, ultrasound, ECG, X-ray and pharmacy facilities. The facilities like OPD, immunization, first aid, lady health worker, and school nutrition will also be available in a field hospital, she further stated. Madam Chief Minister explained:”I have inspected a field hospital; its pharmacy is full of medicines. Today I am going to Bahawalpur with a field hospital. I will go to the rural areas myself to review the facilities provided in the field hospital. Live Dashboard to monitor the performance of field hospital will be available 24 hours a day”.  

The chief minister paid tributes to the health minister and secretary health for completing this project in just six weeks.” Making a big project like field hospitals functional in such a short time was not possible without a special help of Allah Almighty.” She also acknowledged the hard work of Khawaja Salman Rafiq, Khawaja Imran Nazir and Secretary Health Ali Jan who have worked 24 hours a day to accomplish this project so quickly.

Maryam Nawaz said that field hospitals will go to the rural areas and provide the best medical facilities to the people there.”An announcement will be made in the village that a field hospital is parked at a particular place, where people can go to get themselves treated.”, she added.  Without naming the political rivals, the chief minister mentioned containers were used for something else before today. “By climbing on the container, people have been exhorting the public to burn, strangle, beat and kill”. She said that the container abusers stopped free medicines of cancer patients and took to the streets. ”But If a government comes to serve its people, they become container hospitals. Alhamdulillah, medicines for the cancer patients have been restarted, the fund for the medicines has also been increased from Rs 2 billion to Rs 6 billion,” she added.

The chief minister said that Department of Construction and Works (C&W) was also revamping hospitals and BHUs across Punjab. “The revamping of 2500 Basic Health Units and 300 Rural Health Centres of Punjab is in full swing, some have already completed.” She said that in any BHU or RHC across Punjab, patients will not have to worry due to the non-availability of doctor.

“We are preparing a comprehensive plan to meet the shortage of doctors. I will not compromise on the health of my people,” she vowed.  

Madam Chief Minister said that Pakistan’s first air ambulance was going to be launched very soon, as its training has already started. She said that many people had objected to the launch of the Air Ambulance Service, like Nawaz Sharif’s Motorway Project.” Though people said different things about the Motorway in the past, they are using it today.”

 Maryam Nawaz explained that Air Ambulance is only for the poor citizens.She said that when visiting the small hospitals, people told her that due to the lack of air ambulance, heart attack patients died before reaching a big hospital in time. She lamented:”When I visited Sargodha, I found that there is not a single cath lab in the whole of Sargodha”. She said the government will provide a modern cath lab in every city. The cardiology institute at Sargodha will become functional in 12 months, she informed.

Madam Maryam Nawaz Sharif vowed: ,”God willing, within five years, I will build a state of the art hospital, with a cardiology and cancer unit, in every district of Punjab. The first medical city is being built in Lahore. A large and modern medical storage will be built in Punjab.”

The chief minister said that the health card was launched by Nawaz Sharif which was a wonderful project.”I worked with Nawaz Sharif on the Health Card project. There were no complaints about the card then, now there are heaps of complaints”, she said and lamented that in 2018, healthcare was made a bastion of corruption to reward the cronies.”

CM Maryam Nawaz visits field hospital in Bahawalpur

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif reached Bahawalpur on Wednesday after inaugurating field hospital in Lahore and arrived in the suburban area of Abbas Nagar Chak Number BC-6.

The CM also inaugurated the field hospital in Bahawalpur after its inauguration in Lahore on the same day. She inspected the Mobile Health Unit and reviewed provision of facilities available over there. She monitored the ultrasound room, pharmacy, laboratory and communicated with the paramedic staff. She also inspected provision of facilities in the Field Hospital.

The CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif went to the women after the inauguration ceremony and sat on a cot with them. On the appeal of an elderly woman, the CM herself took her to the Field Hospital and got her x-ray, ultrasound and ECG by standing alongside. She showed affection and love to a son of a woman Usman by calling him close to herself. She went to the residence of a villager Jamsheed Arshad on his invitation. The residents of the house showed their pleasant surprise on seeing CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif present among them.