As many as 111 new cases of measles were reported on Thursday.
“No one died of measles today [Thursday]. We are trying our best to look after the patients at high dependency units and save as many lives as we can,” a senior doctor at the Children’s Hospital said.
A Health Department official said, “A proposal to purchase 33 million vaccine doses has been forwarded to the chief minister. It will cost Rs3 billion. The health secretary has already shared this information.”
Separately, Caretaker Health Minister Salima Hashmi on a visit to the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) on Thursday asked the experts to take all possible measures for prevention of communicable diseases.
Dr Khalid Masood Gondal, the CPSP regional director, Additional Secretary (Technical) Dr Anwar Janjua, CPSP Vice President Rakhshanda Rehman, Prof Ali Mehdi Hashmi, Prof Muhammad Shoaib Shafi, Prof Syed Asghar Naqi and faculty members were present on the occasion.
Hashmi said there was a need to establish quality medical institutions in rural areas so that the people should not have to come to cities for healthcare.
She said the basic responsibility of the caretaker government was to conduct free, fair and transparent elections but day-to-day problems could not be overlooked.
She called upon doctors to combat the public health challenges the country faced.
The minister expressed hope that the CPSP would play its role in providing teachers to the newly set up medical colleges in the Punjab. She said countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal were ahead of Pakistan in mother and child healthcare.
She said mortality rate of women and children and statistics related to health in Pakistan were a source of concern. She also said better facilities should be provided to doctors as well as more funds for healthcare.
She said health care system was not truly a business but a fundamental need. It is thus the basic responsibility of government to ensure that affordable medical care was available to the people.
Earlier, the CPSP regional director gave a detailed briefing to the minister regarding activities and achievements of the college. Dr Gondal said thousands of medical experts, and teachers trained by the college were performing valuable services.
Hashmi also distributed certificates among the participants of a medical teachers’ training course.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2013.