Representational image. PHOTO: REUTERS
This was stated by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan on Sunday as he unveiled the province’s new health policy.
Addressing a news briefing at the Health Secretariat in Peshawar, he claimed that K-P had become the first province in the country to draft a provincial health policy.
He added that adding that the new policy had not been drafted in a day, rather, it was the result of consultation and deliberation among as many as 30 experts from government departments, the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, German development bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW), German Development Agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and other donor organisations.
A draft prepared as a result of this consultation, Dr Hisham said, had been approved by the provincial cabinet recently.
Before introducing the health policy, he said that the basic structure of the K-P health department was upgraded to set up a proper data collection system at each and every basic health unit.
Dilating on the aims of the policy, the provincial health minister said that it aims to strengthen the infrastructure of the provincial health sector, providing all required facilities at the tertiary-care hospitals as well as to the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) hospitals, along with Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Rural Health Centres (RHCs).
Reiterating the commitment made by K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan during the presentation of the provincial budget last year, Dr Hisham said that the government will not initiate new projects until there was a dire need for them.
Rather, he said that they will be focusing on completing all those projects which have been pending. These projects alone, he said, require some Rs48 billion to complete.
In this regard, he vowed that the K-P government will complete the Institute of Cardiology and Centre for Hepatology in Nishterabad this year.
Moreover, he said that BHUs, RHCs and district headquarters hospitals (DHQs) in far-flung areas still lack facilities. Hence, he said that his government’s first priority is to provide all facilities at these health centres so as to reduce the load at the tertiary care hospitals in the cities.
In this regard, he disclosed that there were around 104 DHQ hospitals in the province which have 4,000 empty slots for doctors. To make matters worse, the number of nurses in health centres of the province are too low as compared to International standards.
To bridge this vital gap, he said that soon they will request the K-P Public Service Commission for a no-objection certificate (NOC) to advertise these vacancies and hire doctors on year-long contracts on an ad-hoc basis.
Dr Hisham added that they will further strengthen and improve the healthcare system of the province as well as the healthcare foundation. Further, they will also work to improve the Immunisation and nutrition programme in the province.
To a question, whether there was any difference in how he made a surprise visit to hospitals in the province and then, later, Chief Minister Mahmood also ‘raided’ hospitals, the health minister replied that there were little to no differences. He added that the surprise visits were conducted on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan who wants to ensure the provision of health facilities to the public.
“That is why I and the CM raided on hospitals. And because of our raids, the system has been improved.”
On the merger of the erstwhile federally administered tribal areas (Fata) with the rest of the province and provision of health facilities there, Dr Hisham said that they have provisions in the new health policy to provide and improve the health system in the erstwhile tribal areas.
In this regard, he pointed to his recent visit to the DHQ hospitals in Bajaur and Waziristan to review the situation of health systems there. He added that the situation there was satisfactory but there was still room for improvement — especially in terms of facilities.
Further, he said that they have developed a system of accountability in the health sector. This system has seen the suspension of the Khyber Teaching Hospital director and other staff for negligence.
“The government has no tolerance for corruption and negligence in the health sector and those found [guilty] will face the music,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 4th, 2019.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ