LAHORE   -   Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique on Tuesday said that the provincial gov­ernment had allocated special funds for treatment of cancer patients in the budget 2022-23.

He was presiding over a meet­ing here at the Primary and Sec­ondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) to discuss the cancer patients’ problems.

Punjab Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan, Additional Secretary Technical Dr Asim Altaf, Addi­tional Secretary Drug Control Dr Sohail and officers of No­vartis, a company manufactur­ing cancer drugs, were present in the meeting.

The minister said that unin­terrupted supply of medicines to registered cancer patients was being ensured in Punjab, adding that instructions had been issued to the officers con­cerned to facilitate registration of cancer patients in Punjab.

He said that the Secretary Ali Jan Khan was monitoring measures to ensure supply of medicines to cancer patients, adding that the government striving to provide the best medical treatment facilities to registered cancer patients.

MINISTER VISITS PIC

Provincial Health Minister Kha­waja Salman Rafique on Tues­day paid a surprise visit to Pun­jab Institute of Cardiology on the complaint of air condition­ers malfunctioning.

Chief Executive Officer Dr Bilal Mohiuddin accompanied by PIC Medical Superintendent Dr Farooq Ahmed briefed the provincial minister about situ­ation of air conditioners in PIC. The minister summoned the owner of the company con­cerned in this regard.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said, “I have come to PIC to inspect the process of repairing of air conditioners,” adding that seven new ACs were being installed immedi­ately to save the PIC patients from any kind of hassle. He di­rected the secretary health to prepare a detailed report on the breakdown and repair pro­cess of air conditioners in PIC.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has re­ported two deaths in the last 24 hours by coronavirus as the number of confirmed positive cases has surged to 1,534,603. The nationwide tally of fatali­ties has jumped to 30,392 on Tuesday. According to the lat­est figures by the National In­stitute of Health (NIH), at least 333 persons were tested posi­tive for Covid-19 across the country in the past 24 hours.

Pakistan has conducted 13,759 tests in the past 24 hours out of which 333 persons were tested positive for the dis­ease. The COVID Positivity Ratio was recorded at 2.42 percent.