LAHORE, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mian Farrukh Habib has reiterated the government’s firm resolve to overcome the challenge of Covid-19 through effective response strategy and vaccination to maximum number of people.
He was addressing a webinar, organised by the Punjab University’s School of Communication Studies on the topic “Health Literacy and Public Policy of Pakistan in Covid-19: Challenges in Communication, Action and Advocacy in Digital Age”, here on Friday.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary National Health Services Dr Nausheen Hamid, PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, chairperson of PU Department of Digital Media Dr Savera Shami, Chairperson Department of Development Communication Dr Ayesha and students also attended the event.
Referring to the beginning of the first wave of Covid-19 in early 2020, the minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan adopted a realistic approach of smart lockdowns to save economy and poor segments of society, which was widely admired by the global leadership.
He said following the farsighted vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government successfully overcame the outbreak of disease, besides saving millions of labourers from hunger by avoiding strict lockdowns. He said the strategy of smart and micro lockdowns, introduced by the PM, not only were praised by the global forums but also adopted by a large number of countries.
Mian Farrukh Habib said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government educated masses to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs), who were not even ready to accept the outbreak of corona as a disease. He said the government, keeping in view the financial implications of the lockdowns, provided soft loans to the business community besides deferment of outstanding payments to save the local industry and trade.
He said that a package worth Rs1,200 billion was given to 15 million poor families and the amount was disbursed in a transparent mechanism, which was also admired by the world bodies.
The state minister said that following the vision of PM Imran Khan, the government upgraded the health system by adding more ventilators, enhancing the capacity of medical oxygen production from 400 to 800 metric tons, increasing number of beds, making the personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, masks and other equipment which gave positive results during the third wave.
He said more than 8 million people had been vaccinated and the government had purchased 76 per cent of total 13 million dozes from the market. He said that Cansinobio vaccine is successfully being produced in the country and the government will prepare its 3 million dozes in Pakistan.
Mian Farrukh Habib said that the PTI government had succeeded in achieving almost 4 per cent GDP growth rate, which was impressive during the pandemic. He added that the large-scale manufacturing sector was improving significantly, showing confidence of investors in the government policies.
He urged the universities to come forward to play their role in combating the challenges of pandemic and promote the culture of knowledge economy through creating awareness among the public.
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