LAHORE: New hospitals under public-private partnership mode will be constructed in the province to provide best healthcare facilities to the people.

The first such hospital, having a 500-bed capacity, would be set up in Johar Town area, said Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Salman Rafique at a road show arranged by the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC) at a local hotel on Friday.

He said setting up big hospitals through public-private partnership mode had been a successful model in other countries.

`This is a new concept in Pakistan. In Turkey, an invest-ment of $16 billion has been made in the health sector under this mode.

Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Secretary Najam Shah said all the queries and questions of the participants in the road show besides stakeholders would be addressed and complete transparency would be ensured in this process.

He said the initiative had been taken to achieve the target to provide quality health services to the masses for which all the resources were being utilised.

PHIMC Chief Executive Zaheer Abbas said 40 kanals at a prime location in Johar Town had been allocated for the 500-bed hospital on the BOT (built, operate and transfer) mode. All the procedural requirements for the purposewould be fulfilled and the interested firms or companies would be prequalified, he said.

HEALTH FOUNDATION: The Punjab Health Foundation (PHF) will be restructured so that it can be assigned a new role for the strengthening of private healthcare sector.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the PHP board of directors (BoD) presided over by the minister for specialised healthcare and medical education.

The board constituted four committees for the restructuring of PHP and to make its working more vibrant.

Prof Dr Eice Muhammad will be the head of the human resource committee comprising a senior officer of the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education(SHME) Department and the PHP managing director.

The SHME Department secretary will be the chairman of the procurement and finance committee comprising the PHP managing director, one officer each from finance and population welfare departments.

The new initiatives committee will be headed by the SHME Department secretary while officers of the Planning and Development, Social Welfare and Punjab Information Technology Board will be its members.

Prof Eice Muhammad will head the audit committee having one officer each of finance and social welfare departments besides a representative of the chief secretary not below the rank of additional secretary.