Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said on Sunday that all those who have the task of serving humanity should work for providing free health and education facilities to the poor and disadvantaged sections of the society.
The prime minister was speaking at a conference held at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI) to raise awareness about the eradication of hepatitis-C in the country.
Addressing the participants, the Prime Minister said it is their collective responsibility to serve the poor and deprived masses by establishing health facilities like PKLI in line with the vision of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the nation, and in accordance with the concept of welfare state.
The event was attended by Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman, ministers, experts and relevant authorities.
Describing the event as historic, the Prime Minister said that he had always wanted the PKLI to work on the model of Johns Hopkins in the United States.
He said the journey of PKLI started in 2014 when he asked Dr. Saeed Akhtar to set up a state-of-the-art institute for kidney and liver diseases in Punjab province.
The prime minister said that the institute was established with an autonomous body to free it from any bureaucracy.
The project was launched in 2015 and completed in 2018 with the first kidney transplant, he recalled.
The prime minister said that to date, a total of 1000 transplants have been performed at the PKLI, which is another milestone.
The PKLI now has a trust fund of 15 billion rupees to provide free treatment to poor people, he added.
Previously, patients with liver disease were sent to other neighbouring countries, he said.
The PKLI was established in the country that entertained patients irrespective of their class and without discrimination, he said, adding that it was also a major factor in the creation of Pakistan, for which Quaid and a large number of people had made great sacrifices.
He regretted that the poor people in the country were suffering while the rich had all the means to get treatment in the best facilities in the world.
The premier said that in 2018, under the umbrella of PKLI, some 26 hepatitis C philtre clinics were established in the province where patients were treated with great care and free medicines.
This programme was later stopped due to political considerations, but now these philtre clinics have resumed their work and treatment is provided throughout the province, he added.
On the hepatitis C programme, the prime minister said the federal government had provided 35 billion rupees, with provincial governments contributing half of the funds.
Earlier, the prime minister launched the national hepatitis C elimination programme and broke ground for PKLI University.
Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman said on the occasion
