K-P CM orders pragmatic, emergency measures to tackle dengue

Wants initiatives to root out the virus before next dengue season

PESHAWAR: With the total number of dengue cases rising to 2,758, the provincial government on Tuesday directed health officials to take pragmatic measures for the treatment of dengue patients apart from ensuring the availability of critical medicines, vaccines and filling empty posts for doctors immediately.

This was directed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan as he chaired a progress review meeting of the health department on Tuesday.

Discussing the dengue epidemic in the province, CM Mahmood called for taking initiatives which root out the virus from the province promptly next year.

During the meeting, CM Mahmood directed to ensure the availability of vaccines related to dog and snake bites in healthcare facilities across the province to ensure that at least first aid can be provided to patients.

He also principally agreed to provide funds for the development of special software which will help monitor the performance of doctors and supporting staff in healthcare centres.

The meeting was briefed about the performance of the provincial health department, available medical facilities, and future plans.

The CM was told that there are a total of 1,504 healthcare facilities across the province which are currently operational. Of these, there are nine are ‘Category A’ medical teaching institutes (MTI) hospitals, while six are ‘Category A’ non-MTI hospitals.

Similarly, there are a total of 102 category B, C and D hospitals along with District Headquarters (DHQ) and Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) hospitals. There are as many as 111 Rural Health Centres (RHC) and 77 Basic Health Units (BHUs) in the province. All of these healthcare facilities have a combined total of 18,288 beds available while they were working on adding 5,070 beds.

Apart from that, the CM was informed that there are as many as 41 medical education institutions in the province, including 10 medical colleges, the Khyber Medical University (KMU), four dental colleges, a postgraduate medical institute, a provincial health services academy, 10 nursing schools, three paramedic schools, a post-graduate nursing college, four public health schools, a post-graduate paramedics institute and five divisional health development centres.

Reviewing the performance of these health facilities. educational institutions and the health department, Mahmood was told that staff at the BHUs of the province have increased from 67 per cent to 77 per cent between June 2018 to June 2019.

Similarly, availability of medicine at BHUs has increased from 62 per cent to 63 per cent, functionalization of equipment in BHUs has increased from 71 per cent to 78 per cent, while the utility functionality has increased from 78 per cent to 81 per cent.

At RHC, staff presence has increased from 81 per cent to 84 per cent, medicine availability from 71 per cent to 72 per cent, equipment functionality from 76 per cent to 80 per cent and utility functionality have increased from 67 per cent to 80 per cent.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2019.