Public health: ‘Health sector records marked improvement’

Health officials’ performance in various districts reviewed

LAHORE:

“We live in a global village and must keep abreast of global disease patterns and the latest developments in the health sector in order to provide people an effective shield against viral diseases,” Khawaja Salman Rafique, adviser to chief minister on health, said on Sunday.

He was presiding over a monthly conference of health executive district officers at the Health Services Directorate General. Primary and Secondary Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan, Health Services DG Mukhtar Hussain Syed, members of chief minister’s health roadmap team, the health programme directors, health EDOs of all districts and representatives of international development partners were at the meeting.

Members of the chief minister’s health roadmap team presented a review of the Health Department’s performance in various districts. They lauded the primary and secondary health sector’s performance. “Staff absenteeism in hospitals has declined since the introduction of the bio-metric system. The E-Vaccs monitoring system and use of android phones to log targets has helped hospital staff monitor and record stocks of medicines. The performance of vaccinators has improved since the monitoring system was introduced,” a member of the team said. Hospital pharmacies have been able to ensure availability of drugs, they said. Routine immunisation under the EPI has shown marked improvement and coverage has risen from 50 per cent to 75 per cent within a year.

Participants of the meeting reviewed arrangements for the upcoming Sub-National Immunisation (SNIDs) campaign against polio scheduled to start on March 14 in some districts.  Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan directed the officers to finalise arrangements for SNIDs in March. He said that DCOs and DPOs of the districts where SNIDs will be held have been asked to provide proper security to polio teams.

Rafique said the government had taken revolutionary steps to develop the health sector. He said they would focus on controlling diseases and will provide the best possible healthcare facilities to people from far-flung areas. He exhorted district health managers and urged them to perform their responsibilities with zeal and told them to improve services provided at district and tehsil headquarters hospitals.

Rafique stressed the need for taking effective measures against viral diseases. He said vigorous outdoor and indoor dengue surveillance must be ensured to control the disease. He stressed the need for taking effective measures against dengue mosquitoes, especially in Rawalpindi.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2016.