PNN: Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday said Sindh’s health sector has improved significantly since the 18th Constitutional Amendment, citing greater investment and targeted reforms.
Addressing the convocation of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Medical University in Larkana, Bilawal congratulated the graduating students and urged them to dedicate their professional lives to serving the nation and humanity without discrimination. He stressed that doctors and nurses have always acted as frontline warriors during epidemics and crises.
Highlighting the importance of education, Bilawal described Larkana as not just a city but a symbol of resistance against injustice. He said the PPP’s priority has been to fix the healthcare system and, after the 18th Amendment, substantial resources were allocated to the sector.
“I am not competing with other provinces in healthcare, but with the world,” he said, adding that free cardiac treatment is being provided in Sindh and healthcare facilities have been expanded to Karachi, Nawabshah, Jamshoro, Sukkur and Larkana.
The PPP chairman said that under a public-private partnership with the ChildLife Foundation, emergency rooms for children have been established in all districts of Sindh. He also praised Gambat Hospital, saying major hospitals in other cities could not match its services.
Bilawal said healthcare facilities would also be extended to districts that have yet to benefit, while encouraging other institutions to improve their performance. He noted that while Sindh had only one university before the creation of Pakistan, the number rose to 16 between 1947 and 2008, and now stands at 30. Efforts are underway, he added, to establish a university in every district to ensure access to education in underdeveloped areas.
Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, addressing the ceremony, said Shaheed Benazir Bhutto took historic steps to empower women. He said the Sindh government is taking strong measures in health and education, stressing that no society can progress without education.
Murad Ali Shah said Benazir Bhutto had envisioned the establishment of the university in 1989, a dream that was realised in 2009. He added that health sector reforms are ongoing and that development based on education and research is the only path to sustainable progress.