Health regulatory bill to be introduced in parliament soon

New watchdog to oversee and regulate all medical facilities in the country

ISLAMABAD: The health ministry is going to present a bill in parliament for the formation of a health regulatory commission at the federal level.

The watchdog will oversee and regulate the quality of all health facilities including public and private hospitals, laboratories, and clinics run by homeopaths, allopaths, and hakeems.

A cabinet committee and the law ministry have already vetted the bill and it will be presented in the next session of the National Assembly after getting the go-ahead from the prime minister.

There is presently no mechanism or body to regulate the quality of health services at the federal level, as the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) only regulates health professionals, and the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) is an administrative body for government hospitals in Islamabad.

People used to complain to different ministries about the low quality of services at private hospitals, higher treatment cost, or other unsatisfactory services, but there was no proper platform to complain, or a third-party regulatory mechanism for redressal of complaints, said Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination Director General Dr Assad Hafeez.

With the establishment of this health commission, people can register any complaint against any facility providing health-related services at the federal level, he added.

Besides, the health commission will also keep a check on the mushroom growth of various medical laboratories.

After approval of the Federal Healthcare Regulations Act 2015 by the parliament, rules of business and the formation of the commission will be finalised, he said, adding that the body would have inspection and investigations teams, and a legal committee.

Such regulatory commissions are already functional in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, while Balochistan and Sindh are in the process of drafting their own bills.

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