Islamabad - Minister of State for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Saira Afzal Tarar Thursday informed the senate that prime minister has decided to set up a cancer hospital in the federal capital. The construction work on it would be started after its approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), she added.
Replying to various question during question hour, she said a summary had been sent to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) for allocation of the land for the hospital.
She said the hospital would not only cater to the residents of the capital but also people of other provinces. She said a total of Rs 82.6 million was allocated during the last three years for various programmes under the ministry.
Saira said a total of two polio cases have been reported so far from Lodhran (Punjab) and Diamer (Gilgit Baltistan).
She said some 20 cases were reported in 2016 while 306 such cases were registered in 2014. With the virus confined to small geographical areas in the last reservoirs, Pakistan was edging ever closer to interrupting indigenous virus transmission, she said. The minister said to achieve this cherished goal, continued and concerted national efforts would however, be required to ensure that each child was vaccinated during every campaign conducted during 2017.
She said the continued personal leadership and support of all respected members of this august forum would be imperative to support the polio eradication efforts in their respective constituencies as a national duty particularly during the planned monthly campaigns.
Saira said drugs were being registered in both ways that was ‘proprietary and generic name together or generic name’ only.
To another question, the minister said the current PC-1 for the Polio Emergency Programme was authorized by the ECNEC on January 29, 2016 at a total cost of $ 638.57 million for the period July 2012 - December 2018 including $ 326.838 million for the Phase-1 (2012-2015) and $ 311.73 million for the Phase-2 (2016-2018).
