LAHORE:United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative Dr Luay Shabaneh on Wednesday called on Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi at his office and agreed to make cooperation more effective for population welfare, especially family planning.
The CM announced the recruitment of approved vacant posts in the Population Welfare Department and added that the government would go all out to achieve the family planning targets. He added that people in rural and urban backward areas would be sensitized about the importance of family planning. Family health clinics and welfare centers would be made more functional and initiatives would be regularly monitored at tehsil and district levels, he stated.
The CM said that the provincial government had decided to give a special package, under the Punjab Ehsaas Program, to families adopting family planning measures.
He said that rapidly increasing population was a threat to human survival on the planet as rampant population growth increased health, educational, environmental and employment problems. Public cooperation with government efforts was indispensable to overcoming population-related problems. By controlling the population, the quality of life could also be improved, he said and concluded that all should work to raise societal awareness about population planning.
Dr Luay Shabaneh noted that the Parvez Elahi-led Punjab government was taking exemplary steps for population welfare. “We are happy that Chief Minister Parvez Elahi’s programs for population welfare are showing encouraging results. We will continue to work closely with the Punjab government regarding population welfare,” he added.
Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal, Secretary Population Welfare Salman Ejaz, Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Dr Irshad, DG Population Welfare Saman Rai, Program & Technical Specialist Shoaib Ahmad Shahzad, Technical Specialist (Gender) Sania Durrani and others were also present.