Mother and Child Healthcare Centre to cut load of Polyclinic

ECC approves over Rs220m for increasing stipends of student nurses in Islamabad


Shabbir Hussain November 28, 2019
PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The revamped Mother and Child Healthcare (MCH) Centre at Aabpara will reduce the burden on Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital by almost 30 per cent, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Dr Zafar Mirza said on Wednesday.

The 60-bed MCH will now be facilitating up to 100 childbirths in a day. Previously this payload was going to Polyclinic and MCH was handling only two to three delivery cases in a day.

MCH, which will run under the supervision of Dr Sharif Astori, will have Out Patient Departments (OPDs), in-patient services, emergency, operation theatre, radiology, ultrasound, pathology section, pharmacy, auditorium, doctors’ rooms and nurses’ room.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Dr Zafar Mirza said that the government was committed to reducing the maternal mortality rate by promoting safe motherhood.

Mirza said there was a need to develop human resources for maternal health care. He added training of health professionals and hospital staff was necessary to ensure good health of mother and child.

He said that a sufficient number of medical specialists, nurses, paramedics, and other officials had been deputed at the centre to serve the patients. The MCH Centre will have best facilities at its labour rooms and wards.

He added all relevant test services would be provided including X-ray and ultrasound. There is a state-of-the-art nursery for newborn babies at the centre, he added.

Dr Mirza said that doctors would be available round the clock in the wards while there was a spacious sitting area for attendants of the patients. He added top quality patient-care facilities were being provided at the upgraded centre.

He said that Islamabad was being transformed into a model health city which would set an example for the provinces and regions across the country to emulate.

Addressing the participants, he said the government was designing a model healthcare system which would initiate from Primary Healthcare Centres (PCHs).

He added that some 16 PCHs in Islamabad were dysfunctional which were now being upgraded phase-wise while three new ones would be built soon.

Dr Mirza informed the audience that the first of these centres would be inaugurated in Shah Allah Ditta area on Friday.

“This will be a model of complete transformation of patient-care and services, which is a manifestation of our resolve to improve the health and wellbeing of people”, he added.

Earlier, Dr Zafar Mirza visited different sections of the centre. Executive Director FGPC Dr Shoib Khan and Incharge MCH Center Dr Sharif Astori briefed SAPM about the facilities provided at the centre to assist the patients.

Dr Mirza hailed the efforts of Polyclinic Head Dr Shoaib Khan and said that every leader set a goal and worked for its accomplishment. Following the same course, he added, Dr Khan formed a good team that was taking concrete steps for enhancement of the hospital’s performance.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has decided to approve a supplementary grant of the health ministry worth Rs220.85 million to enhance the allowances and stipends of student nurses serving in state-run hospitals of the federal capital.

The apex body overseeing economic affairs of the country has directed the finance ministry to arrange the requisite funds for paying the increment in allowances of these nurses.

The increment will bring allowances and stipends of student nurses in Islamabad on a par with their counterparts in the rest of the country.

According to the documents available with The Express Tribune, the summary regarding the supplementary grant of around Rs220.85 million was presented by the health ministry in the ECC meeting held on Wednesday.

The ministry asked for a grant of Rs155.351 million to increase the stipend for student nurses serving at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). Apart from it, the health ministry sought Rs50.70 million for student nurses working at Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital and Rs5.4 million for those working at the National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine (NIRM).

Besides, the ministry sought a supplementary grant of Rs100.6 million for enhanced allowances and stipends of nurses serving in Federal General Hospital in Islamabad.

The document stated that the grant was being sought as per directions issued by Prime Minister Imran Khan in August to bring the allowances of nurses in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) on a par with the allowances received by the nurses in the rest of the country.

The officials at the ministry said that the stipend of student nurses after the approval will be increased to Rs20,000 from Rs6,860.

Meanwhile, nurses working in Basic Pay Scale (BPS) 16 in the federal government hospitals will now receive Rs8,000 as ration and miscellaneous allowance and another Rs3,100 as dress allowance every month.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2019.

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