To improve the basic healthcare, the provincial government has decided to set up primary care management committees.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan agreed to the proposed reforms to improve utilisation of primary healthcare facilities as he presided over a meeting of the provincial health department on Saturday.
The chief minister directed to include the Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Rural Health Centers (RHCs) in the proposed reforms plan and submit it to the next meeting of the provincial cabinet for approval.
CM Mahmood said that the establishment of separate management committees for primary health care institutions was aimed to ensure efficient services delivery for which funds worth billions are being spent under the head of the operational budget of primary healthcare facilities.
“We would have to ensure result-oriented utilisation of these resources at all cost,” he added.
The meeting was briefed about the proposed reforms in primary healthcare system and establishment of management committees.
It was informed that at least Rs10 billion was being spent as the operational budget of over 1, 000 primary healthcare facilities in the province. There are 770 BHUs and 111 RHCs only in settle districts of the province. The current model of managing primary health facilities needs to be changed and for this purpose a comprehensive plan has been chalked out, the meeting informed.
The proposed plan include necessary changes in existing management model, improvement of infrastructure and furniture, standardisation of service delivery equipment, provision of essential drugs and consumables, availability of staff and supervision etc.
The meeting was told that the health department was also developing a policy to introduce rapid diagnostic tests at all primary healthcare facilities including blood glucose, hemoglobin, pregnancy, HIV, malaria, dengue and hepatitis.
The meeting was told that proposed model was tested in a 20 BHUs and RHCs in Peshawar district as a pre-pilot project and positive outcome was noticed. Under this model BHUs and RHCs could facilitate additional one million patients while its implementation cost would be Rs2 billion.
As many as 822 primary care management committees would be constituted in the primary healthcare facilities while 108 such committees would be set up in secondary healthcare hospitals.
Regarding the constitution of committees, their objectives, responsibilities and utilisation of funds, the meeting was informed that district health steering committees would also be established to ensure broad supervision of all the matters related to management committees and service delivery in the primary healthcare institutions.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2020.
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