Public health: Inventory management pilot for Sheikhupura

LAHORE:

The Health Department will launch a pilot project for introducing a new inventory management system at Sheikhupura DHQ Hospital, said Health Secretary Jawad Rafiq Malik on Monday.

He said the project was being planned with the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

He said it would also cover two basic health units and two rural health centres. “It will be run jointly by Burki Institute of Public Policy and Sub-National Governance (SNG),” he said.

Malik was addressing a ceremony held to ink an agreement in this regard.

Special Health Secretary Salman Mufti, Health Services Director General Zahid Pervaiz, Policy Management Unit (PSPU) Strategy Director Ali Bahadur Qazi, Shahid Nazam from Burki Institute of Public Policy and Hamid Yaqub Sheikh from the SNG were also present. The secretary said the inventory management system would be evolved through a database on medicines and drugs available at the hospital and the health units. He said a database of patients would also be created to assess disease burden and pattern.

“This project would be completed in 18 months and the data would be uploaded on a dashboard,” he said.

These dashboards would be installed at the office of the health sectary and the PSPU. Malik said the project would be replicated in other districts if the pilot was a success.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2015.