Punjab health department to adopt K-P model

LAHORE: Reportedly, the Punjab government has decided to implement the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act 2015 at teaching hospitals across the province, The Express Tribune has learnt.



Under the act, teaching hospitals in the province are granted complete autonomy. Hospital directors will replace medical superintendents, chief executive officers will replace vice chancellors and nursing directors will replace nursing superintendents. Each of these positions will be selected by a board of governors consisting of people from the private and the government sector.

The Punjab health department has advised senior officials to quietly start working towards implementing the reform. Reportedly, a meeting was held between senior health experts and the health department, under the supervision of Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, in this regard.

“Meeting minutes were not issued because there are a number of doctors’ groups, nursing associations and paramedical staff associations which vehemently oppose the reform,” reveals a senior official from the Punjab health department while speaking to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

Vice chancellors and principals from six public sector universities were also present during the meeting where they discussed issues and solutions regarding implementing the K-P reforms in Punjab, he added.

A senior official from a private cancer hospital was also invited to participate in the meeting. It was decided that implementation of the reforms should be started without any further delay, he said.

Punjab Health Department Spokesperson Waseem Butt stated that implementing the reforms will only help medical universities, hospitals and the health department.

“The Punjab health department shall follow a federal health policy in the future,” he maintains.



Previously, Punjab Higher Education Department Minister Raja Yasir Humayun Safraz announced that the education department will also follow in K-P’s footsteps and introduce reforms. With this latest development, both the education and the health department will be adopting reforms previously introduced by K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2018.