A meeting of the cabinet committee on health reforms was chaired by Minister of Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Kh Salman Rafique here on Wednesday decided that in order to control diseases and to introduce a strong early disease warning system, a directorate of disease surveillance would be established in Punjab. A reorganisation of the institute of public health will also be carried out.
Turkish experts gave a presentation on the current family medicine system in Turkey and briefed the meeting’s attendants about the benefits of the system. The cabinet committee agreed to introduce a family medicine system in Punjab. The health minister Health Kh. Salman Rafique directed a technical working group to be set up for discussing and assessing all aspects of the proposal.
Salman Rafique said that the family medicine system would be piloted in one district and then later extended to other districts. The meeting also approved the introduction of performance based pay packages for vaccinators posted in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts.
Primary Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan informed the meeting that 500 additional posts of vaccinators have been created. He said that performance based salary packages would be given to the vaccinators for which third party evaluation also be conducted. He said that the objective of the initiative was to improve the routine immunisation coverage from 62% to 85%.
Minister for Primary & Secondary Health Imran Nazir, Provincial Minister for Population Welfare Begum Zakia Shahnawaz, Additional Chief Secretary Shumail Ahmad Khawaja, Special Secretary Dr Sajid Mehmood Chohan, P&D Member Dr Shabana Haider, UHS Vice Chancellor Junaid Sarfraz Khan, KEMU Pro-Vice Chancellor Qazi Saeed, Prof Faisal Masood, the population welfare secretary, Punjab Health Initiate Management Company Chief Executive Officer Dr Saira Siddque, PPHA CEO Dr Shabnam, Health Consultant Dr Naeem-ud-Din Mian, and other officers of both the health departments also attended the meeting.