Referral system: Samanabad hospital attached to Jinnah Hospital

Patients coming to Jinnah with minor diseases may now be referred to these facilities

LAHORE: Samanabad Hospital and a dispensary in Wahdat Colony will soon be affiliated with the Jinnah Hospital.

The decision was taken at a meeting held on Tuesday to review progress on introduction of a referral system under which primary and secondary healthcare facilities across the province would be attached to nearby teaching hospitals for improved management.

In the first phase, the project will be implemented in Lahore only.

A statement issued after Tuesday’s meeting said that the introduction of the referral system would help rationalise workload at teaching hospitals. It said the teaching hospitals could refer patients with common or minor diseases to their affiliate primary and secondary health facilities.

Speaking at the meeting, Specialised Healthcare Secretary Najam Ahmed Shah said the introduction of the referral system would help improve management of health facilities. He said bed occupancy rate at teaching hospitals would decline with the implementation of the referral system. He said other teaching hospitals in the city would also be attached to dispensaries of the City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) or nearby hospitals.  He said people visiting the teaching hospitals with common or minor diseases would be advised to get themselves examined at the affiliate health facilities.

The quality of service at these facilities would be improved, he added.

Shah directed the officials concerned to prepare a comprehensive roadmap for affiliation of dispensaries and hospitals with the remaining teaching hospitals in the city.

He said the teaching hospitals should be asked to design a logo which they should display at the facilities affiliated with them.

He said health sector reforms were being carried out with the intention that they would lead to better service delivery.

The meeting held at the Civil Secretariat was also attended by Health Development Additional Secretary Azhar Abbas Malik, Allama Iqbal Medical College Principal Mahmood Shaukat, Health EDO Zulfiqar Ali and Health DO Muhammad Saeed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2016.