Tariq Saeed Peshawar
In a major development the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has in principle decided to start air ambulance service in the province with the aim to effectively deal with any health emergency situation. Decision to this effect was made in a meeting of the health department chaired by the Chief Minister of KP, Ali Amin Gandapur on Tuesday. The concerned authorities have been directed to take necessary steps to launch the ambulance service in a four months period. It was also decided in the meeting to launch MotorBike Response Unit for congested areas to ensure timely provision of emergency treatment service to people during emergencies.
However, the Chief Minister Gandapur expressed dissatisfaction on the overall performance of District Health Offices and 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. He directed the concerned quarters to finalize a new health policy in one month to revamp the entire health sector on modern lines. The meeting 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 up to 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 desks 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 Centers, and ensure the availability of at least OT service, Gynae service and ultrasound services with the required technical staff in these primary healthcare units. The Chief Minister on this occasion directed the quarters concerned to open fair price pharmacy shops in all the tertiary care and DHQ hospitals of the province.
