A delegation of nine Turkish public health experts currently on a 10-day tour of Punjab, have completed their assessment of the pilot project healthcare system to be started in Kasur. For this purpose, a family medicine information system and a pathological laboratory service will be established before the project’s launch with the collaboration of Turkish public health experts.
The government of Punjab has appointed ten dedicated field coordinators to accomplish this task while the Turkish government will nominate five permanent consultants to run this collaborative programme all over the province in the future.
A meeting between the Turkish delegates, Punjab Additional Chief Secretary Shumail Ahmad Khawaja, Minister for Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Kh Salman Rafique, Minister for Primary & Secondary Healthcare Kh Imran Nazir, Secretary Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Najam Ahmad Shah and Secretary Primary & Secondary Healthcare Ali Jan Khan, and others was held to bring all the relevant parties on board with the latest developments.
At the meeting, the Additional Chief Secretary said that the government was also seeking collaboration in another pilot project to induct 100 motorcycle-health personnel equipped with first-aid equipment. These motorcycle riders would work under the Rescue 1122 Emergency Services and go where four-wheeler ambulances cannot operate due to narrow passages and traffic jams. He further said that Rescue-1122 Emergency Services will also be integrated to tertiary hospitals.
He expressed his delight over the fact that a 15-point Memorandum of Understanding had already been inked in a ceremony held at Hazoori Bagh in Lahore on November 17 this year in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to collaborate with the Punjab government in transforming the health sector.
Shamail Ahmad Khawaja said that the government of Punjab is planning to outsource non-core clinical services, medical research, diagnostic facilities, incineration, laundry services, and the parking and security arrangements of two tertiary hospitals in Lahore and Faisalabad, along with two secondary hospitals in Sheikhupura and Muzaffargarh.
The Punjab government will also seek technical collaboration in the short term training of hospital managers and nurses apart from establishing a family health services model and Emergency Services Control & Command System in public sector hospitals all over Punjab.
