PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR: An increase in population and corresponding burden of disease – including an outbreak of dengue, coupled with a lack of ‘interest’ by those involved in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health system, the provincial healthcare system could not keep pace of its improvement with the changing times.
In the outgoing year, the provincial government continued its four-pronged strategy focusing on putting things in the right direction and rounding off various initiatives before starting new ones.
Outbreaks
The dengue outbreak in the province was one of the most severe with over 70 people dead and close to 22,000 reported cases.
The outbreak prompted the government to undertake a string of measures including fumigating all areas and setting up a dengue response unit which monitored cases across the province with a view to identifying areas with a chronic incidence of cases and directing fumigation teams to these areas in a systematic manner.
The government even sought to import a dengue vaccine for this purpose.
Legislation
The government passed a number of laws while amending some others to help tackle various health issues in the province.
The K-P Public Health (Disease and Surveillance) Act was passed to provide enforcement measures preventing and controlling the spread of diseases as outbreaks. The law provided for forming a Public Health Committee which would work across sectors such as health, education, public health engineering, livestock, agriculture, environment and others from where a public health emergency can arise or can be instrumental in controlling such emergencies.
The Mental Health Act helped provide a comprehensive structure for the treatment of people with mental disorders and protecting their rights. More importantly the law provides a legal structure for protection of their assets and properties.
The law also covers forensics psychiatry with special emphasis on jails and detention institutions.
The Health Foundation law, drafted to carry out contract management and managing outsourcing of diagnostics and services, was amended to have a board of governors which was more technical.
The law also framed public-private partnership and financial management rules which were notified so that its basic purpose of ensuring access to quality basic health services through public-private partnership could be realised.
While the K-P Blood Transfusion Regulatory Authority Act was passed in 2016, the actual framework had to be formed through detailed regulations applicable to blood banks and blood products, both in the public and the private sector.
The Food Safety Authority Act was modified to include Halal food provisions, especially in the branding.
Vaccination was provided protection under an ordinance dating back to 1958 which was customised for smallpox.
A major amendment was introduced in that law to provide a legal umbrella to all vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) since the law provides for deployment of vaccination officers in places such as jails, borstals or any place where a child may live.
Most importantly, extensive rules were framed for the Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority which would seek authorization for organ donation from close blood relatives. Moreover, it framed rules for duties of transplant surgeons and physicians, preservation of organs, registration of transplantation institutes – provided they meet standards of technical human resource, infrastructure, service delivery, ICU and other conditions.
The K-P Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Rules were also framed during the year which included provisions of promotion of breastfeeding, labelling of infant formulae and bottle feeding complementary foods.
Boosting workforce
Once laws were amended and some new ones enacted, the provincial government turned its attention to addressing one of the largest gaps in service delivery – lack of staff.
A number of posts were created while specialists, medical officers, nurses, paramedical staff and others, were appointed.
After a long time, the peripheries got the full array of human resources. Most of the Rural Health Centres (RHCs) were upgraded to work around the clock.
Social protection
The Sehat Insaf Card was expanded from the four districts initially to cover around 69 per cent of the province’s population.
The programme claims that It now covers the lowest strata of society which makes $2 or less per day– the actual line of poverty.
Moreover, the government in the last month of the year launched a programme whereby the health insurance would be extended to people who are transgenders.
Apart from the Sehat Sahulat Card, the provincial government has extended the ‘Treatment of poor cancer patients’ programme worth Rs447.796 million. Of this Rs350 million were spent on setting up an efficient, equitable and effective cancer management programme.
Further, the government finalised plans to extend its free insulin programme for diabetes patients by three years.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2018.
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