Punjab Minister for Primary & Secondary Health Khawaja Imran Nazir has said that significant improvement in health sector especially in primary & secondary health can be seen due to the implementation of Chief Minister’ Health Roadmap Program. He said that Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Department has introduced Punjab Residency Program for postgraduate students through which central induction policy evolved for the admission for specialization. He said that special marks were allocated in merit for serving in periphery due to that candidates of PGship are preferring posting at basic health units and presently 88 percent BHUs have got medical officers.
He stated this while addressing a joint monthly meeting of Chief Executive Officers Health, District Officers Preventive and District Coordinators of Integrated, Reproductive, Mother, New Born Child Health and Nutrition Program (IRMNCH), here at a local hotel on Sunday. Besides, Secretary Primary & Secondary Health Ali Jan Khan, Additional Secretary Health Admin Dr. Farooq Manzoor, Provincial Director IRMNCH Program Dr. Mukhtiar Hussain Syed, Additional Director Dr. Akhtar Rasheed Malik, Directors of Punjab Hepatitis Control Program, Punjab TB Dots Program, EPI, Punjab AIDS Control, Chief Executive Punjab Health Facilities Management Company Muhammad Ali Amir, officers of PITB, PMU, PSPU and Chief Minister’ Health Roadmap also attended the conference. Kh. Imran Nazir further said that we have to perform our duties with dedication, hard working and with a positive approach. The Minister said that Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has also appreciated the efforts and good performance of whole team of health department. Kh. Imran Nazir said that CEOs are the face of the department therefore, they have to more careful in performing their duties and they should initiate necessary steps and to adopt strategy for improving the performance of their subordinates. He said that mistake can be tolerated but dishonesty and inefficiency is not tolerable at any cost. He said that getting quality medicines at the health centres is the right of poor patients and no pilferage and misappropriation of the medicines would be allowed. He directed the CEOs to keep a vigilant eye on the storekeepers and other staff dealing with the medicine stocks.
Secretary Primary & Secondary Health Ali Jan Khan has said that as per direction of the Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, timeline has been fixed to achieve each target and monitoring system based on information technology has been introduced in the department. Ali Jan Khan informed that as a rough estimate two lakh 80 thousand deliveries take place in Punjab. He said that vaccination of new born children is essential to prevent them from various diseases, therefore, strict monitoring of performance of vaccinators is inevitable to further improve the routine immunization in Punjab. Secretary Health informed that hepatitis B birth doze has been introduced in Punjab for infants. He said that a check list has been introduced at health centres for ensuring satisfactory treatment and take care of the patients coming to these health facilities. He said that onward performance of the health centres would be verified according to the prescribed check list and feedback would also be taken from the independent source. It was informed that tuberculoses (TB) has been declared notify-able disease in Punjab for bringing near about 70 thousand missing patients on record. Dr. Zarfashan Tahir Director TB Control further informed that government is providing free treatment facilities to two lakh 20 thousand TB patients in the province. Dr. Zahida Sarwar Director Punjab Hepatitis Control Program informed that hepatitis filter clinics have been established in 80 THQ and DHQ hospitals. She said that at present one month medicine is being provided to the patient, however, PHCP has decided to provide three months medicines to the patients for ensuring availability of medicines without any interruption. Moreover, effective steps have been taken for infection control and hospital waste management in Punjab and private sector hospitals have also been trained by the Punjab Hepatitis Control Program. Special Secretary Dr. Faisal Zahoor informed that blood screening campaign has been launched in Punjab for the screening of truck drivers, inmates, id users, transgender and other vulnerable segment of the society. He said that treatment facilities are being provided to the HIV/AIDS patients. He informed that the system generate SMS regarding the emerging of diseases and prevention and this SMS sent to one lakh health professionals including general practitioners, health managers etc. Minister Primary & Secondary Health Kh. Imran Nazir took serious notice of the five complaints of shifting the patients from public sector health facility to private hospitals. He directed that complete report regarding these complaints must be presented to him. The Minister said the objective of holding monthly meeting of CEOs and other district officers of health department is to review the performance of the health department at district level and to evaluate the implementation on the instructions for achieving the goals set by the Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for making the health sector according to the international standard for ensuring best healthcare facilities to the general public.