F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has decided in principle to launch Air Ambulance Service in the province with the aim to effectively deal with any health emergency situation, and has directed the concerned quarters for necessary steps to ensure practical launching of the service in four months time. He was chairing an important meeting of the health department here the other day.
Provincial Minister for health, Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Advisor to Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Amjad Ali Khan, Secretary Heather Mehmood Aslam and other high ups of health department attended the meeting. It was also decided in the meeting to launch Motor Bike Response Unit for congested areas to ensure timely provision of emergency treatment service to people during emergencies.
Moreover, the meeting also decided to declare Hayatabad Peshawar as Healthcare City with the aim to ensure the provision of all types of medical treatment facilities to both the domestic and foreign patients at the same place. The meeting also nodded to the establishment of Health Information and Service Delivery Unit to ensure real time monitoring of service delivery in public sector hospitals of the province with the aim to improve the service delivery upto the desired level.
As an important welfare initiative, the meeting also decided to start Executive Health Checkup Program for senior citizens. Under the proposed program, citizens above the age of 65 will get free quarterly medical checkup facilities including lab tests, CT scan, MRI, Echo, ECG etc. Separate staff and desk will be dedicated in the hospitals to facilitate the senior citizens in this regard.
The Chief Minister has directed the concerned authorities to propose necessary measures to strengthen the primary healthcare system in the province future directing them to categorize the Basic Health Units and the Rural Health Centres, and ensure the availability of at least OT service, Gynae service and ultrasound services with the required technical staff in these primary healthcare units.
Ali Amin Gandapur has directed the health authorities for steps to upgrade all the Tehsil Headquarter Hospitals with the aim to empanel them on Sehat Card program further directing them to make the District Headquarter Hospitals of the province state of the art healthcare facilities and to ensure the round the clock provision of quality healthcare services in these hospitals.
The Chief Minister has also directed the quarters concerned to open fair price pharmacy shops in all the tertiary care and DHQ hospitals of the province further directing the health department to work out all the requirements for strengthening the public sector hospitals across the province within one month time so that the required financial resources could be allocated in the upcoming financial budget.
Ali Amin has also directed to finalize a new health policy in one month to revamp the entire health sector on modern lines. Expressing dissatisfaction on the overall performance of District Health Offices, the Chief Minister has directed the relevant authorities to revisit the existing system of District Health Offices, and come up with proposals to realign the working of these offices with the needs of the hour.
