K-P Health Policy far from implementation

The draft had been okayed two and a half years ago

PESHAWAR:

The K-P health policy is far from implementation despite the fact that its draft was okayed by the cabinet two and a half years ago.

Talking to The Express Tribune official sources said that two and a half years ago the provincial government prepared the draft of the policy which was okayed by the cabinet and arrangements were made to implement it.

“An action plan was also finalized for health policy which was supposed to be entirely implemented in one year. But the policy is gathering dust in the offices of the concerned officials these days,” they said, adding that it had also been decided that after one year the performance and implementation will be evaluated.

“Under the action plan many steps were proposed but the most important one was to empower, upgrade and extend the local hospitals at the district level,” claimed the officials, saying that its main aim was to treat as many patients at the district hospitals in order to reduce burden on the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC).

“Most of the health facilities today are available only in Peshawar that is why patients from across the province and even Afghanistan are coming to these hospitals which is a real burden for these hospitals as well as general public. So it was decided to upgrade local health institutes in the districts, provide it with specialists doctors and all necessary equipment and infrastructure enabling it to treat majority of the patients locally,” they said, adding that it was a good policy at least on drawing board but its practical implementation is still a distant reality.

“It seems like the government officials have lost their interest in the implementation of the health policy altogether. They are interested in the transfers and posting policy instead,” the sources further added.

One factor could be the current Corona crisis which has badly impacted all the government machinery as well as society.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2021.