Population Welfare Dept to replace expired medicine

Staff Report

LAHORE: Officers of the Population Welfare Department check the expiry dates of medicines at medical centres and replace drugs that expire next quarter, said Qazi Afaq Hussain, Punjab Population Welfare secretary, on Sunday.

He said that ultrasound machines would be purchased for all productive health services centres.

He said that advertisement material on videocassettes would be converted on VCDs to inform the masses about the benefits of small families. VCD players would be provided at the district level while projectors would be given to tehsil offices who perform well.

He said that multimedia computers would be purchased at the district level and the Internet would be made available at the Procurement of Materials and Equipment Directorate. The Information Technology Department will develop a website that provides information regarding population planning. Hussain also directed officers to keep in touch with influential people of their areas and to hold functions regarding population welfare to raise awareness among the people.

Nasim Lodhi, Punjab Population Welfare minister, while addressing a seminar titled ‘Population and development issues and challenges’, said that the government is determined to control the population as well as eliminate poverty. She said that the high rate of population growth could be controlled by raising awareness about the benefits of small families.

She said though the Population Welfare Programme was started in 1960, the former governments had paid no attention to it and the desired results were not obtained. Lodhi said the present government had set up population welfare departments at the provincial level. She said that this has yielded positive results and people have started planning their families according to their resources.

The Health Department is focusing on healthcare facilities and training of female health visitors, she said. Women doctors are being motivated to serve in rural health centers, she added. She said that social welfare associations should supplement the government’s population control efforts.

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