Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed to bring facilities at Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) at par with international standard and provide free treatment to at least 50 per cent of deserving patients.
He issued these directives while chairing a review meeting of the PKLI in Lahore. The prime minister was given a detailed briefing on administrative matters of the PKLI.
It was informed that 290 kidney transplants and 190 liver transplants were carried out at the PKLI and of these operations, only 17 per cent of patients received free treatment.
At this, the prime minister said that existing facilities at the PKLI were unsatisfactory and added that the purpose of the PKLI was to provide free transplant facilities to the poor and needy people so that they do not have to go to other countries for treatment at hefty costs. He said that patients should not be deprived of treatment at the PKLI for financial reasons.
Shahbaz Sharif said that the poor of the country have problems in accessing quality healthcare facilities and provision of free world class facilities to them was the top priority of the government.
The premier also directed Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal to present strategy within three days to make the institute financially autonomous. He also lamented the negligence in the completion of the PKLI project. He directed to make Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) a trust.
Shahbaz Sharif directed to complete the project of Nursing University at the earliest and said that the sanitation system of PKLI should be outsourced if there was a need to bring PKLI’s sanitation in line with international standards.
