Third-party medical equipment validation made mandatory

Immediate repair of accommodation of doctors in remote areas stressed

LAHORE:

The Secondary Health Care and Population Welfare Department has directed for third-party validation before declaring the medical equipment in government hospitals as irreparable or unusable.

The 15th monthly conference of chief executive officers of District Health Authorities in the province on Saturday was chaired by Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan to review the monthly performance of the CEOs.

Caretaker Minister Dr Jamal Nasir stated that machinery and equipment worth millions of rupees in government hospitals were declared unusable after using them for only a few years, while the same machines are used by private sector laboratories and hospitals for many decades.

He directed that judicious use of national resources should be ensured to avoid wastage of public money.

The minister asked the chief executive officers of all District Health Authorities to conduct regular visits to Rural Health Centers and Primary Health Centers in their jurisdictions and submit photographic evidence in this regard.

The minister disclosed that necessary arrangements were being made to keep all the basic health units (BHUs) of Punjab functional round the clock.

The minister informed that in order to provide quality treatment facilities to the inmates of prisoners in Punjab, the operation of hospitals of the Prison department will soon be taken over by the Primary Health Care department. These hospitals will be handed over to the concerned District Health Authorities, he added.

The minister also stated that the Health department will work for the improvement of Police Hospitals and Dispensaries. In addition, dispensaries of Lahore High Court located in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, and Bahawalpur will also be activated.

The CEOs will visit these hospitals at the earliest and submit their reports.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2023.