Qamar-uz-Zaman, secretary of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, passed away in Lahore on Tuesday after he was admitted to a hospital with dengue fever a couple of days ago.
He was in a critical condition for two days and died on Tuesday.
In a statement, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the demise of Qamar-uz-Zaman. He said Qamar’s relationship with Sharif family started with his father Mian Sharif.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly and PML-N Central Vice-President Hamza Shehbaz criticised the Punjab government over its failure to control dengue and putting the lives of citizens at stake.
In a statement, Hamza said that hospitals were full of dengue patients. He said around 4,494 cases had been reported from all over the province, out of which 3,437 cases were from Lahore alone. “During the Shehbaz Sharif’s tenure, when dengue was on the rise, the CM himself chaired 90 meetings to check the performance on a daily basis and mobilised all the departments,” he said.
Hamza said due to Shehbaz’s timely actions and leadership skills, the dengue virus was brought under control in the Punjab which was also acknowledged by experts from Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.
Meanwhile, to cope with the health emergency, the Punjab government has opened a 280-bed dengue field hospital at Expo Centre to deal with increasing number of dengue patients.
Doctors from General Hospital, Services Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Mayo Hospital have been deputed at the field hospital and a duty roster for them has been placed. Dr Asad Aslam Khan has been made the focal person for the field hospital.
