ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday inaugurated state-of-the-art King Hamad University of Nursing and Allied Medical Services, being established with the assistance of the brotherly country Bahrain.
In his address at the Inaugural Ceremony held in Islamabad, the prime minister said that the federal government was committed to improve the quality of human resource in the nursing profession and to further enhance its prestige. He expressed the confidence that the university would bring quality of nursing care in Pakistan at par with international standards.
The prime minister said that health was one of the top priority of the government, adding that it had introduced major reforms and initiated projects focused on poorest of the poor.
Nawaz Sharif also announced construction of 50 state-of-the-art hospitals in densely populated and marginalized areas throughout the country.
The prime minister said that the goal of the government was to provide integrated healthcare spanning over entire health spectrum from primary to tertiary care. He said the programme was unprecedented in terms of its magnitude.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the programme was being implemented in a phased manner and would provide coverage to 100 million people eventually. He said that work in this regard was being undertaken expeditiously.
Besides healthcare, the prime minister added, the government was also focusing on preventive side. He said that National immunization programme was providing free of cost vaccine facility to every Pakistani child and pregnant mother.
There had been significant improvement in the coverage of the programme and concrete steps were being taken to arrest the spread of polio, he said.
Moreover, he described the proposed university as a significant leap forward in improving healthcare sector in the country as it would help fill an important gap in the healthcare field. He said that there was dearth of properly qualified and trained nurses and the project would help overcome this problem.
Sharif thanked people and the government of Bahrain and especially King Hamad for generosity in offering the support for establishment of this quality university. He said that the university symbolized strong bonds of brotherhood and friendship between the two countries.
“This is reflective of leadership of Bahrain’s love for the people of Pakistan and its commitment to help improve the quality of life of our people,” the prime minister said.
