ISLAMABAD: Owing to the culture of dual charge on key administrative positions in the health sector, the performance of the institutions has suffered badly, leaving the poor visiting public sector hospitals to bore the brunt.
This observation was made by Senator Ramesh Kumar in the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination, which was chaired by senator Dr Hafeez-Ur-Rehman Khan.
Ramesh said that the performance of the institutions suffered badly due to the dual charge on key administrative positions, which eventually affected the general public who are looking towards public sector hospitals to get good treatment.
He revealed that currently, 14 health departments are functioning without their heads, adding that some expired medicines were supplied to Dera Ghazi Khan (DGK) on which the ministry held out the assurance that the matter would be thoroughly probed and the findings would be shared with the committee.
On the occasion, the committee unanimously approved two bills – the Restructuring of Health Services Academy Bill 2017 and the Islamabad Healthcare Health Regulation Bill 2017.
While discussing the Restructuring of Health Services Academy (HSA) Bill, the health ministry officials informed the committee that the institute is the first of its kind in the country and offers postgraduate degrees in public health.
The official of the ministry said that there currently are no public health universities in Pakistan, and so the declaration of HSA as a university would be very important and beneficial.
He said that the academy got the status of a Degree Awarding Institute (DAI) in 2016 by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), adding that there wouldn’t be any financial burden on the government, as we have made a plan to manage its financial affairs.
When questioned by Ramesh Kumar that why had the ministry delayed such an important matter, the secretary of the health ministry, Asad Hafeez said that a number of issues were present in the whole process including the acquisition of land, a library, prescribed staff according to HEC rules along with other things, and so it was delayed.
The health services academy was established under the Health Services Academy Ordinance 2002. Like other universities, the HSA will also have a chancellor, a pro-chancellor, members of the senate and a vice chancellor.
Under the promulgation of the law, the functions of the university are to provide education and training in health including animal sciences, technology, health sciences, biomedical technology and other allied disciplines to produce health professionals, doctors, and scientists in the country.
The Islamabad Healthcare Health Regulation 2017 was approved in a bid to provide healthcare facilities to the citizens of the capital. Through presidential orders, it would also accommodate the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Furthermore, the committee deferred the Transplant of Human Organs and Tissues Amendment Bill 2016 due to some serious flaws. Senator Dr Amirullah Marwat suggested that it is better to defer the matter instead of “wetting flawed documents”. However, Asad Hafeez assured the committee that all flaws will be rectified within a month.
