K-P sets Rs3b to improve periphery medical facilities

The programme will include hiring doctors, nurses, paramedics and technicians at the primary and secondary levels

PESHAWAR: The K-P health department has laid out Rs3 billion to bolster health care facilities in the peripheral and remote regions of the province.

The programme will include hiring doctors, nurses, paramedics and technicians at the primary and secondary level apart from reinforcing it with new equipment. “We have a clear direction and that is to upgrade facilities in the peripheries so that patients do not have to travel to tertiary care hospitals or even to the cities [for treatment],” a senior health official told The Express Tribune.

The official, who requested anonymity since he was not entitled to speak to media, stated that apart from Rs3b allocated for the project, they had finalised the contracting rates while a list for the equipment which will be procured has been published on the health department’s website

Noting that publishing the list was meant to encourage transparency, he adding that facilities from a civil dispensary to the DHQ will be upgraded to improve their service delivery.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2017.