Rescue-1122 to be launched in remote areas of the province : ACS Shamail Kh

Lahore : Owing to increasing influx of patients to the tertiary hospitals from far-flung rural areas of the province, Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has decided to launch rescue-1122 Emergency Ambulance Service to save the lives of seriously endangered patients. For this purpose Rescue-1122 Emergency Services will be integrated to the tertiary hospitals with the technical collaboration of public health experts of the Republic of Turkey.

This was disclosed by Additional Chief Secretary Punjab Shamail Ahmad Khawaja while talking to the visiting 9-member Turk delegation of public health experts currently on a 10-day tour of the province of Punjab.

The head of the delegation Dr. Hassan Shah expressed pleasure over provision of a chance to them to play a part in giving comfort to the Pakistani brethren suffering from various diseases through improving the healthcare system initially by introducing short term curative measures in hospital management.

Additional Chief Secretary Shamail Ahmad Khawaja informed the Turk delegation that Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has desired to establish “Public Hospital Management Agency” on the analogy of Turkish Public Health Management Agency in the province of Punjab. A 15 points MoU has already been inked in a ceremony held at Hazoori Bagh Lahore on November 17 this year in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to collaborate with the Punjab government in transforming the health sector, he recalled.

Shamail Ahmad Khawaja said that the government of the Punjab wants to outsource non-core clinical services, medical research, diagnostic facilities, incineration, laundry services, parking and security arrangements of two tertiary hospitals, one in Lahore and one in Faisalabad along with two secondary healthcare hospitals of Sheikhupura and Muzaffargarh districts.

The Punjab government will also seek technical collaboration in short term training of hospital managers and nurses apart from establishing family health services model and Emergency Services Control & Command System in the public sector hospitals all over the Punjab.

Earlier, head of the Turkish delegation and his companions were received in the Civil Secretariat Lahore by Advisor on Health Kh. Salman Rafique, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Kh. Imran Nazir, ACS Shamail Ahmad Khawaja, Secretary Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Najam Ahmad Shah, Secretary Primary & Secondary Healthcare Ali Jan Khan, Principal Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore Dr.Mahmood Shaukat, Chief Executive Mayo Hospital Lahore Dr. Asad Aslam Khan, Chief Operating Officer Punjab Healthcare Commission Dr. Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Member Health Planning & Development Board Dr.Shabana Haider, Special Secretaries SH&ME and P&SH, Director General Health Services Punjab, Director General Infrastructure Development Authority Punjab, Acting Chief Executive Punjab Public Health Agency and Dean Institute of Public Health Punjab.

The delegation was accorded warm welcome and the parliamentarians, technocrats and bureaucrats termed the Turkish collaboration in health sector a good omen for the people of the province of Punjab.