The Punjab government on Saturday assigned the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) to provide better healthcare by ensuring effective collaboration and coordination between all relevant stakeholders.
A spokesman of Health Department said that PHC is an independent healthcare regulatory body which was created under the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act 2010. PHC Act 2010 is the only legislation in Pakistan that empowers the Commission to regulate all healthcare establishments for improving quality of healthcare in Punjab. As defined by the PHC Act, healthcare establishments include hospitals, diagnostic clinics, Tibb clinics, acupuncture and physiotherapy clinics or any other premise or conveyance wholly or partly used for providing healthcare service both in public and private sectors.
The spokesman said that legislations like Pakistan Medical and Dental Act 1962 and Pakistan Nursing Council Act 1973 regulate medical, dental and nursing education. Acts like PDMA and PNC cater to standardization in teaching hospitals to fulfill requirements for teaching and training for undergraduates and postgraduates. The main objective of PHC is to license all healthcare establishments in both public and private sectors by introducing a system of clinical governance through implementation of Minimum Service Delivery Standards for primary, secondary and tertiary Healthcare Establishments.
