Punjab has registered health and demographic profiles of nearly 94.3 million citizens under its first digital health census, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was told during a briefing on Saturday.

Officials informed the meeting that more than 85 percent of the population in 18 districts had been covered through health and demographic profiling. Five districts had achieved 100 per cent coverage, while another five had completed over 95 percent of the process.

The meeting was told that every household in Punjab had been assigned a unique identification number through digital mapping. A total of 14,300 community health inspectors had carried out door to door visits to collect medical, demographic and socio economic data from citizens across the province.

The Chief Minister reviewed the programmes digital dashboard, which contained detailed information on citizens health status, lifestyle, economic conditions, access to drinking water and disabilities.

Officials announced that 16 cardiac catheterisation labs would be made operational across Punjab by December. Five labs were already functional, and facilities in Bhakkar, Bahawalnagar and Layyah had been directed to become operational at the earliest. Phase two of the cath lab project, covering eight additional districts, was ordered to be completed by the end of July.

The Chief Minister sought weekly performance reports on the operational labs and directed officials to improve the home delivery system for medicines. She also instructed the health department to launch a population management campaign to address the provinces growing population.

Without authentic data, no policy can be effective, the Chief Minister said, adding that healthcare services would now be planned and delivered on the basis of fully verified digital data rather than estimates. She said accurate data was essential to determine the number of patients and medicines required in each area, noting that many basic health issues and diseases had never before been systematically documented.

The meeting was informed of a proposal to launch the Maryam Nawaz Sehatmand Gharana Programme, under which citizens would be directly linked with primary healthcare centres to reduce hospital visits. Patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis, cancer and malnutrition would be monitored through a digital follow up system.

A modern disaster recovery site would also be established to secure Punjabs health database, the meeting was told.

The Chief Minister welcomed the reporting of negative environmental polio samples from 19 districts and appreciated the efforts of polio workers in protecting children from the disease.