Dr Faisal Launches Construction Of PIMS Maternal, Child Health Center Expansion

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan Thursday launched construction of the extension of Intensive Care at Maternal and Child Care Centre and Children's Hospital at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Oct, 2021 ) :Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan Thursday launched construction of the extension of Intensive Care at Maternal and Child Care Centre and Children's Hospital at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The grant assistance from Japan worth $32 million (3.62 billion Japanese Yen) was signed in Tokyo two years ago. According to the current plan, the construction will be completed in April 2023.

Addressing the ceremony, Dr Faisal said the government was committed to providing the best medical services for mothers and children in the country.

He said innovative steps were being taken to further improve the facilities to control the mother and child mortality rate in the country.

He said the present government had paid special focus on the health sector and particularly on mother and child health by starting several mega projects.

He said effective measures were being adopted to achieve targets of universal health coverage (UHC).

He said the government was working for the expansion of the UHC by investing in health systems, especially in Primary Health Care (PHC), and was committed to implementing its agenda to achieve the target of UHC.

He reiterated the strengthening of the PHC in the country and taking innovative steps to improve the health status of the population.

He said PIMS was a major public sector hospital and assured that all possible support would be provided to improve the standard of services at the hospital.

He expressed the hope that the hospital's governing board would play its role in making positive changes in running the affairs of the hospital.

He thanked the ambassador of Japan, Matsuda Kuninori, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for their support to Pakistan in the health sector.

He said the government of Japan had always supported Pakistan in many areas including disaster management and expressed the hope that such cooperation would continue in the future too.

Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Matsuda Kuninori expressed his respect to all those who worked hard to start this project amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to this, in this August, Japan extended another grant assistance of $31.4 million to establish a new Maternal and Child Health Center at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences in Hyderabad, he added.

Ambassador Matsuda commented, "PIMS and Liaquat University are symbols of Japan's health development assistance to Pakistan in the north and south of the country, respectively. I am sure that the two institutions will make a significant contribution to the improvement of maternal and child health as regional medical hubs."Chief Representative of JICA Pakistan Office, Furuta Shigeki also remarked, "The project has been long-awaited in order to respond to the growing needs of clinically high-risk perinatal cases from all over Pakistan."He said in this project, high-quality medical treatment would be provided to severely ill mothers and children, accommodating 300 patients at the Maternal Foetal Intensive Care unit, and 1,100 patients at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit a year.