LARKANA (Dunya News) – Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that there has been a significant improvement in Sindh’s health sector after the 18th Amendment.
Addressing the convocation of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University here on Monday, Bilawal congratulated the graduates and said that they must now dedicate themselves to serving the nation in their practical lives.
He said that the importance of education cannot be denied, adding that Larkana is not just a city but also a symbol of resistance against injustice. He urged graduates to serve humanity without discrimination, noting that during any epidemic, doctors and nurses have played the role of frontline warriors.
He stated that their priority has been to fix the healthcare system, and after the 18th Amendment, substantial investment was made in the health sector.
He said he was not competing with other provinces in healthcare but with the world. “Free cardiac treatment is being provided in the province. Healthcare facilities have been extended to Karachi, Nawabshah, Jamshoro, Sukkur, and Larkana,” the PPP chief added.
Bilawal said that under a public-private partnership with the ChildLife Foundation, emergency rooms for children have been established in all districts of Sindh. Hospitals in major cities across Pakistan cannot compete with the Gambat Hospital, he boasted.
The PPP chairman said that healthcare facilities will also be provided in districts that have not yet been reached, and that they want other institutions to perform well too. He noted that before the creation of Pakistan, Sindh had only one university; from 1947 to 2008, the province had 16 universities, and today Sindh has established 30 universities.
He said that efforts are underway to establish a university in every district of Sindh so that access to education becomes possible even in underdeveloped areas.
Earlier, addressing the ceremony, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto took significant steps to empower women.
The Sindh government is taking strong measures in the fields of health and education, he said and added that no society can progress without education.
He said that Benazir Bhutto envisioned the university in 1989, and that her dream was realized in 2009.
“Reforms in the health sector are ongoing. Youth are the future of Pakistan. Development based on education and research is the only path to sustainable progress,” Murad Ali Shah stated.