Free diagnostic, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and medical care services will be provided to cancer patients.
Advisor to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique. PHOTO: HAQ FROM ZAHOORUL
LAHORE:
After the provincial cabinet, the board of directors of Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC) approved the implementation of the prime minister’s special initiatives for cancer patients, stroke management and cardiac surgery.
Chairing a board meeting, Punjab Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said free diagnostics, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and medical and surgical facilities would be provided to cancer patients at an annual cost of Rs 13 billion. Free treatment facilities worth more than Rs 1.2 billion will be provided to stroke patients every year. Under the Chief Minister’s Adult Cardiac Surgery Programme, free treatment facilities worth Rs 3,000 crore will be provided to patients annually.
Under the Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme, at least 9,648 children 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.
Within the framework of another program, 1,151 organ transplants have been performed, including 613 kidney, 315 cochlear, 185 liver, 16 bone marrow and 22 cornea, free of charge.
The provincial secretary concerned said that 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 a stroke over the past year. The program ensures free supply of the life-saving TNK injection, which costs around Rs 300,000 per dose.
The free injections are administered at 14 stroke management centers across the province. The centers have been set up at Services Hospital, General Hospital and Mayo Hospital in Lahore, Nishtar Hospital in Multan and Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.
Stroke management centers have also been set up in Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Narowal, Dera Ghazi Khan and Layyah, and directions have been given to expand the program to other districts.
