Performance audit: Panel to pick flaws in public health facilities

Three facilities to be inspected in the first phase

PESHAWAR: The Health Care Commission (HCC) has decided to identify shortcomings in public health facilities across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as carry out a performance audit of these facilities, officials said on Friday.

The commission is already taking action against illegal and below par health facilities in the private sector.

During the first phase, three facilities, including the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) in the provincial capital had been identified in this regard. Officials said that other tertiary care hospitals across the province would be inspected next.

They said the commission is ready to carry out a performance audit in consultation with the administrators of these facilities.

Officials say it is the first time that K-P will be holding such an exercise. The move is aimed at identifying weaknesses in hospitals.

According to HCC officials, the audit would be carried out on a quarterly basis.

They pointed out that all tertiary care hospitals in the provincial capital were offering health facilities for decades but their performance was never reviewed.

“Gauging the performance of these hospitals is essential … This will be beneficial for future planning,” officials said.

Actual data will benefit health facilities, healthcare providers and patients, says HCC’s Director Licencing and Registration Dr Khalid Masood.

“I wonder why this was not done earlier … All private facilities carry out such procedures every year for better performance,” Masood told The Express Tribune.

A meeting, he said, was scheduled to be held on February 25 where the HCC would assign various to different teams, adding that all such teams would also include an official from the facility concerned.

He said that HMC, LRH and KTH would bear expenses for carrying out the audit, adding that the government wanted to carry out audits at nine other tertiary care hospitals across the province. “The government is willing to finance audits for other tertiary care hospitals.”

When asked about the provincial administered tribal areas [Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Swat, Chitral, Malakand, Buner and Kohistan districts], Masood stated that the K-P home ministry was consulted and things would soon be streamlined following talks with Safron Ministry.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2017.