Islamabad will get Pakistan’s ‘first-ever’ health tower.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed relevant authorities to establish a world-class health tower in the federal capital.
This comprehensive facility will encompass hospitals, medical and nursing universities, advanced laboratories, and diagnostic centers.
Chairing a meeting focused on the Ministry of National Health Services, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of devising a public-private partnership strategy to realize this ambitious project.
He highlighted the crucial role of the health sector in safeguarding lives and expressed deep concern over recent polio cases, vowing to eliminate the disease through all available resources and collaborations.
Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated Pakistan’s largest Surgical Tower (Mayo Hospital, Lahore) on 18th May, 2018.
385 bedded state-of-the-art institution is equipped with latest technology.#PMLN #Healthcare pic.twitter.com/HFKNbYP16p— PMLN Health Care (@PMLNHealthCare) May 22, 2021
Prime Minister Sharif called for an independent audit of the laboratories under the Ministry of National Health Services and emphasized the need to appoint highly qualified health professionals across the ministry and its affiliated departments.
He committed to personally monitoring health sector developments and ordered a third-party audit of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.
Additionally, he directed the formulation of a strategy to separate drug processing functions from the Authority.
The Prime Minister also mandated the outsourcing of human resources for all government hospitals in Islamabad, along with their waste treatment plants, and called for a nationwide audit of nursing schools and colleges.
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During the briefing, officials announced the upcoming introduction of a National Blood Transfusion and Blood Products Policy and reported that a nursing and midwifery policy framework was nearing completion.
To increase the number of nursing graduates, an evening shift is being introduced in nursing colleges. Work has also begun on a revised National Action Plan 2025-30 aimed at controlling population growth.
Prime Minister Sharif was informed about the recent installation of Rs 711 million worth of new health equipment in Islamabad’s hospitals, prompting him to order a third-party audit of these purchases.
Additionally, a modern hospital management system is set to be implemented in the city’s hospitals, with waste management plants currently operational in five public and four private hospitals.
Plans are also underway to develop a domestic insulin manufacturing strategy.
The Prime Minister was briefed on initiatives to produce various vaccines, establish plasma fractionation centers, create a pharmaceutical park, and equip tertiary care hospitals in Quetta.
Further developments include the construction of a 50-bed hospital in Musakhel, a tertiary care and Tehsil headquarters hospital in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and the establishment of an Institute of Medical Sciences and Daanish Hospital in Gilgit Baltistan.
As Islamabad to get Pakistan’s ‘first-ever’ health tower, the meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Ahad Khan Cheema, PM’s Coordinators Malik Mukhtar Ahmed and Rana Ehsan Afzal, along with other senior officials.
