LAHORE– Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid discussed with a delegation of the World Health Organization measures to Institutionalize Maternal Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) system in Punjab at a meeting at the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department here on Tuesday.
Present in the meeting were Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Ms. Sarah Aslam, Country office Category Lead WHO Ms. Ellen Thomb, Technical Advisor Dr. Lubna, Dr. Yahya Gulzar, Dr. Zulfiqar, professor Javed Chaudhry and others.
The Health Minister discussed with the visiting delegation the latest developments regarding improvement in Mother and Child indicators in Punjab. The visiting delegation appreciated Punjab progress for new initiatives on MCH indicators.
The Health Minister said, “Punjab is developing new state-of-the-art mother and child hospitals which will help save lives of hundreds of thousands of mothers and children in the province. Recommendations shall be submitted to Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar for a provincial Task Force.
Currently emergency services are provided in rural areas through 480 ambulances. Gradually we are moving to upgrade all 2500 BHUs to 24/7 model and the steps are being to ensure the safety of mother and child.
The government has allocated Rs 370 billion for health in Punjab. Mother and Child health indicators are important part of the Punjab Health Sector Strategy 2019-29. We believe all institutions must work in collaboration to bring improvement. We will need to control maternal mortality and that is one main reason for development of new Mother and Child hospitals.”
Category lead WHO Ms. Ellen Thomb said that Punjab’s measures to improve Mother and Child health indicators deserve appreciation and the WHO will fully support the government in its efforts.
