LAHORE  -  Caretaker Provincial Health Minister Dr. Javed Akram paid a detailed visit to the under-construction emergency, trauma centre and cardiac centre of Jinnah Hospital, here on Monday. Spe­cial Secretary Development Special­ized Healthcare and Medical Education Department Wajid Ali Shah, Principal Allama Iqbal Medical College Prof Dr. Nadeem Hafeez Butt, MS Jinnah Hospi­tal Dr. Yahya Sultan, Deputy Chief IDAP Omar Bela and other officers were present. The minister said the new emergency, trauma centre and cardiac centre would be developed for conve­nience of patients coming to Jinnah Hospital Lahore. Due to the increas­ing population, there was a dire need for expansion of existing public sector hospitals, he added. “Only after in­creasing the efficiency of government hospitals, we will be able to provide better health facilities to the grow­ing population,” he said. The minister said that improvement of government hospitals was the first priority for the caretaker government, adding that the caretaker chief minister was person­ally visiting various government hos­pitals to review the issues. For the past several decades, no attention had been paid to building new large public hos­pitals across the province including Lahore. The Punjab government was bringing about reforms for improve­ment of government hospitals, he add­ed. Meanwhile, Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI) Principal Prof. Al-Fa­reed Zafar Monday said that the launch of four-year degree programme at the evening shift of 44 nursing colleges of the province including Lahore Gen­eral Hospital by Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi was a historic initiative in the health sector. In a media state­ment, he said the initiative would have a positive impact on nursing health education and would greatly help in promotion of health professionalism in the province and to fulfill the short­age of trained nurses.