A hospital in Islamabad. PHOTO: WASEEM NAZIR
A health task force has been constituted at federal level to improve health facilities in Islamabad, which have been ailing since the devolution of the Ministry of Health (MoH) under the 18th Amendment.
An official in the Ministry of National Health Service, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) told The Express Tribune that the committee will be headed by Member National Assembly (MNA) Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary and will make propose improvements in the capital’s health sector. The task force will also work on the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority 2014 draft bill.
The committee will also work on a proposal to bring all the health related bodies currently functioning under various Ministries and divisions including Ministry of NHSRC, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration, Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), and Capital Development Authority (CDA) under one umbrella, according the official.
“More than two years of confusion regarding the jurisdictions of the departments is unfortunate. We have failed to revamp or upgrade anything in the healthcare system,” he added. “The federal capital’s health care system lacks coordination, accountability and proper management.”
Meanwhile, officials in the ICT administration said that the healthcare facilities in the suburbs were even worse.
“Almost all the basic health care units and rural health centres lack proper staff, equipment and medicine, and nobody is bothered to address this,” informed the pessimistic official, who was of the opinion that in the amid the myriad of security issues in the country, the ministry of interior cannot focus on the state of affairs at rural health centres that come under the ICT administration.
The CDA Health services department is also going through a similar situation. Its director, Dr Hassan Urooj, told The Express Tribune that the department was facing an acute shortage of human resources.
“Since 1982, there has been no reform in its staff structure and it is running despite a shortage of staff and equipment,” he added.
The number of public healthcare issues has seen a humongous increase during this time but the authorities still seems to have no plan of improving the situation, Dr Urooj complained.
Minister of State for NHSRC Saira Afzal Tarar termed the capital’s healthcare facilities to be worse than that of the rural areas of the country, saying the federal healthcare system had no mechanism for keeping a check on what actually happens on the ground.
“The capital is facing increased quackery. People without medical degrees have opened clinics in every corner of the city and are playing with the lives of innocent people every day. Even more alarming is the mushroom growth of unregistered blood banks in the city,” informed the minister. “It is all due to the scattered nature of health departments that are operating under people who have no know-how of the health field.”
The task force is a step towards the streamlining of all the departments according to her.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2014.
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