Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Kh. Salman Rafique has said that an effective and comprehensive strategy is being evolved to control hepatitis in Punjab. He said that on the instruction of Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Punjab government would extend all out cooperation to Pakistan Kidney & Liver Institute for conducting random survey regarding hepatitis prevalence in Punjab.
He said this while talking to a Pakistani origin American medical expert Dr. Abdul Nadir, Director Liver Transplantation Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, and Ms Kelly Balmer, technician supervisor of Endoscopy Mericopa Integrated Health Services USA, at PKLI office, here today. Chairman PKLI Prof. Saeed Akhtar and Secretary Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Najam Ahmed Shah were also present in the meeting. Prof. Saeed Akhtar said that highly qualified Pakistani doctors residing in America and UK have given their consent to serve in PKLI with a national and humanitarian spirit. He informed that data bank of hepatitis patients would be prepared, for this purpose PKLI would conduct a random survey of 30 thousand people. Secretary Health Najam Ahmed Shah said that government is ready to allocate maximum resources to control hepatitis. Najam Ahmed Shah further said that under construction PKLI would be a state of the art research institute of international standard. He said that PKLI would be a mother institute and after that plan would be made for setting up such institutes in other parts of the province.