Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed the establishment of a health tower of international standards in the federal capital. This facility will include hospitals, medical and nursing universities, modern laboratories, and diagnostic centers.
Chairing a meeting to review matters related to the Ministry of National Health Services, the prime minister instructed the formulation of a strategy to build the tower through a public-private partnership.
Emphasizing the health sector’s critical role in saving lives, the prime minister expressed concern over new polio cases in the country and pledged to eradicate the disease by utilizing all available resources in collaboration with partners.
He called for a third-party audit of laboratories under the Ministry of National Health Services and the appointment of well-qualified health professionals in the ministry and its allied departments.
Prime Minister Shehbaz also ordered a third-party audit of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the formulation of a strategy to separate drug processing from the Authority. He instructed the outsourcing of human resources in all government hospitals in Islamabad, their waste treatment plants, and the audit of nursing schools and colleges nationwide.
During the briefing, it was revealed that a National Blood Transfusion and Blood Products Policy would be introduced soon, and work on a nursing and midwifery policy framework was in its final stage. An evening shift is being introduced in nursing colleges to increase the number of graduates. Additionally, work has begun on a revised National Action Plan 2025-30 to control population growth.
The prime minister was informed about the installation of new health equipment worth Rs 711 million in Islamabad’s hospitals, and he ordered a third-party audit of these purchases. A modern hospital management system will be installed in Islamabad’s hospitals, and waste management plants are operating in five public and four private sector hospitals in the capital.
The meeting also discussed a strategy for insulin manufacturing in the country, plans to produce various vaccines, build plasma fractionation centers and a pharma park, and provide machinery and equipment to Quetta’s tertiary care hospitals.
Additionally, it was announced that a 50-bed hospital would be established in Musakhel, a tertiary care and Tehsil headquarters hospital in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and an Institute of Medical Sciences and Danish Hospital in Gilgit Baltistan.
Federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Ahad Khan Cheema, PM’s Coordinators Malik Mukhtar Ahmed and Rana Ehsan Afzal, and other relevant senior officers attended the meeting.
