Advisor to Punjab Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that the provision of quality healthcare facilities to the remote districts is the prime target of the government. The primary and secondary healthcare systems are being strengthened for that very reason, he added.
He said this while presiding over a weekly stock taking meeting in primary and secondary healthcare department on Thursday. Primary and Secondary Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan, Health DG Dr Mukhtar Hussain Syed, Additional Secretary Admin Adnan Zafar, Development Additional Secretary Dr Faisal, Policy and Strategic Planning Unit (PSPU) Director Muhammad Khan Ranjha and other concerned officers of the department and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) attended the meeting.
The meeting reviewed in detail the ongoing development schemes in the department, disease prevention programme, promotions and recruitments of doctors and nurses. The meeting was informed that a new scheme has been introduced to overcome the dearth of anaesthesia doctors in DHQ and THQ hospitals.
According to the scheme, private anaesthetists that offered to get registered with DHQ and THQ hospitals would get paid Rs 2,500 per case to them by the government. It was informed that an advertisement has already been published in the newspapers in this regard.
The meeting reviewed the promotion cases of MOs, WMOs, APMOs and WAPMOs to their next grade. It was informed that the website of primary and secondary health has also been installed with the help of PITB, and all notifications and other necessary documents are being loaded on the website for the convenience of all concerned. The department has also planned to cluster the basic health units for the improvement of working and provision of health facilities to the local population. The meeting also took stock of the procurement of medicines and chemicals. The performance of dengue, polio and AIDS control programme were also evaluated.
Additional Secretary Adnan Zafar informed that the screening programme of jail inmates has been launched in the province under which 50,000 prisoners would be screened for various infectious diseases. A ‘central complaint mechanism’ is also being evolved with the help of PITB at all the DHQ hospitals, he added.
