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Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique. PHOTO: ZAHOORUL HAQ
LAHORE:
After the provincial cabinet, the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC) Board of Directors has approved the implementation of the chief minister’s special initiatives for cancer patients, stroke management and cardiac surgery.
Presiding over a meeting of the board, Punjab Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said free diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgical and medical facilities would be provided to cancer patients at a yearly cost of Rs13 billion. Free treatment facilities worth more than Rs1.2 billion will be provided to stroke patients every year. Under the Chief Minister’s Adult Cardiac Surgery Programme, free treatment facilities worth Rs3 billion annually will be provided to patients.
Under the Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme, at least 9,648 ichildren have undergone free heart surgeries across the province so far at a cost of billions of rupees, including 391 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 234 from Azad Kashmir, 101 from Islamabad, 28 from Balochistan, 31 from Gilgit-Baltistan and 25 from Sindh.
Under another programme, 1,151 organ transplants have been performed, including 613 renal, 315 cochlear, 185 liver, 16 bone marrow and 22 corneal transplants, free of charge.
The provincial secretary concerned said Instructions had been given to solve the problems faced by patients in the empaneled hospitals.
According to official data, more than 700 patients across Punjab have recovered after suffering stroke during the past year. The programme ensures free provision of the life-saving TNK injection, which costs around Rs300,000 per dose.
The free injections are being administered at 14 stroke management centres across the province. The centres have been established at the Services Hospital, General Hospital and Mayo Hospital in Lahore, Nishtar Hospital in Multan and Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.
Stroke management centres have also been set up in Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Narowal, Dera Ghazi Khan and Layyah, while instructions have been issued to expand the programme to other districts.
