RECORDER REPORT

FAISALABAD: Free diagnostic programme for industrial workers and their families will be launched within next couple of days, said Zubair Ahmad Director Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (MONHSRC). He was addressing a ceremony in which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between MONHSRC and Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here on Tuesday.

Zubair said that he visited FCCI last Monday to give preliminary briefings to FCCI members on free diagnostic facilities and now just within a period of less than one week; he is here to ink MoU which will pave way to implement this programme in Faisalabad division.

He said that under this programme the industrial workers and their family will be provided free diagnostic and treatment facility with a focused approach on most prevalent diseases like TB and Hepatitis. He said that this programme will replace Millennium Development Goals with achievements of sustainable goals. He said that earlier the industrial workers were taken to hospitals after the manifestation of symptoms of a particular disease, however, now a proactive policy is being adopted to educate the workers to take necessary precautionary measures in order to avoid falling prey to the different epidemic. He said that initially the treatment facilities for TB and Hepatitis will be provided while in later phase other diseases would also be diagnosed and treated within the available resources with the help of Punjab Government. He further said that free diagnostic facilities are being provided in divisional head quarters of the Punjab. “Faisalabad is the 3rd city to enjoy this facility”, he added.

He said that any nearest dispensary in this area will be declared as Basic Management Unit (BMU) to extend follow-up facilities to the infected workers or their family members.

“Ministry will also provide necessary training to the dispensary staff along with medicines for the registered industrial workers”. Responding to a question, he said that initially one van will check the industrial workers in a single shift while another shift could be added in case of increase in the numbers of workers. He further told that the medical data of industrial workers will be shared only with the president FCCI or industrial unit concerned to avoid its misuse.

Earlier in his address of welcome, President FCCI Shabbir Hussain Chawla welcomed this programme and said that FCCI will fully cooperate for the success of this workers friendly programme. Regarding the MoU, he said that it will ensure healthy workers who could certainly play their productive role in enhancing the productivity of their concerned unit.

Later, Zubair Ahmed and Shabbir Hussain Chawla inked the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations. They also exchanged documents of MoU in the presence of a sizable crowd.

During this meeting Senior Vice President Sheikh Farooq Yusuf, Vice President Usman Rauf, Chaudhary Muhammad Nawaz, Chaudhary Ghulam Sarwar, Mian Tanveer Ahmed, Rana Sikandar-e-Azam and other leading industrialists were also present.