Punjab Chief Minister’s Health Advisor Khawaja Salman Rafique said on Tuesday that a special package for doctors of basic health units (BHUs) was being considered in order to ensure their 100 per cent presence.
Addressing a meeting held to evolve a strategy for ensuring presence of BHU doctors at Civil Secretariat, he said that a “hard area allowance” would be given to the doctors posted at BHUs and this allowance would be according to the distance of the BHU from the city.
Rafique said that special incentives for medical officers at BHUs-level were essential to motivate them to perform their duties efficiently. He said that far flung districts of southern Punjab would be given priority. He also said that the approval for this scheme would be obtained from Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Members of the Chief Minister’s Health Roadmap team told the meeting that a pilot project of this kind was being run in Jhang district and there was need to extend it to other areas of the province.
Health Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik, DG Health Dr Amjad Shehzad, Policy and Strategic Planning Unit (PSPU) Director Ali Bahadur Qazi and the Chief Minister’s Health Roadmap Team members attended the meeting.