All doctors who have passed recently conducted written test of SPSC to be hired;
decision aimed at making closed health facilities functional
The Sindh chief minister, in an unprecedented move, ordered on Friday the recruitment of all 6,000 doctors who have passed the written test of the Sindh Public Service Commission conducted recently for the selection of 2,700 doctors.
The decision is aimed at making the government-run hospitals, which are closed because of shortage of doctors, functional again.
Murad Ali Shah was presiding over a meeting to revamp the health department and improve health services across the province.
Briefing the chief minister, health secretary Usman Chachar said there were 64,701 sanctioned slots in the health department, of which 7,948 were vacant including 6,153 of doctors, 10 of pharmacists, 23 if drug administrators, 210 of nurses, 1,214 if paramedics and 338 of lady health workers.
Replying to a question, the secretary said the health department had requisitioned 2,700 positions of doctors from the Sindh Public Service Commission. Over 10,000 doctors had applied for the SPSC test, of them 6000 had passed its written test.
The chief minister said without wasting time, all 6,000 doctors should be hired forthwith. He directed the chief secretary to look into the rules and remove legal issues, if any, and recruit the doctors.
“Hospitals are not functioning properly because of the shortage of staff. I have already imposed a health emergency in the province because of this problem,” he added.
Shah said there were credible reports that substandard medicines were being sold in the market.
The health secretary said the drug testing laboratory was not functioning. To a question, the secretary said Dr Qaiser Abbas was the chief drug inspector.
The chief minister asked the secretary about Dr Abbas’ performance, to which the latter replied that the chief drug inspector was currently under suspension.
The chief minister was told that Sindh government had 1,791 health facilities, including RHC, BHCs, MCHCs, clinics, dispensaries, unani shifa khanas and homeopathic dispensaries.
The government has given 998 health facilities to the PPHI and 783 are being run by the health department.
The health department runs 16 DHQs, 49 THQs, 27 major hospitals and nine tertiary care facilities. It also runs 74 health universities, medical, dental colleges, and nursing schools.
Giving details of health indicators, the health secretary said infant mortality rate was recorded in 2014 at 82 live births.
The child mortality rate up to 5 years of age was 104 per 1,000 live births. Around 65.7 percent deliveries are carried out by skilled attendants. The figure of institutional deliveries has been recorded at 64 percent.
There is 79.7 percent proportion of antenatal care, 71.8 percent proportion of postnatal care and total fertility rate is four percent while contraceptive prevalence rate has been recorded at 29 percent. On this, the chief minister expressed his displeasure and said every indicator must be improved by improving health services.
In the province, 11 different programmes and projects in the health sector were in progress including the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, the LHWs program for family planning and primary healthcare; the Maternal and Neonatal Child Health Programme; the TB Control, the Hepatitis Control; the Prevention and Control of Blindness; the Malaria Control; the Nutrition Support; the Enhanced HIV/AIDS prpgramme; the Child Survival Programme, and the Dengue Control and Prevention Programme. The chief minister said that he was unsatisfied with the performance of these programmes.
The chief minister was told that four cases of polio have been reported during 2016 which included two in Shikarpur, one in Jacobabad and one in Karachi. In measles 1,193 cases were reported which had claimed 14 lives. Similarly, 13,67 dengue cases were reported in which three had lost their lives.
Only two cases of Naegleria were reported and both the patients had died.
The chief minister also expressed his concern over the reports of measles cases.
Shah directed the health minister and secretary to change the programme heads of different projects if they were not performing.
The chief minister also directed the health department to establish a command and control center at their conference hall on 6th floor of New Sindh Secretariat to monitor health services
He also ordered the department to develop a software to keep a record of their employees/doctors which included their complete service record and other data of hospital-wise medicines, disbursement, performance of vertical programmes and other health services.
He also ordered the health secretary to send him proposal for the overhauling of the health department. "I would divide it into two departments if it is necessary,” he added.
Doctors repatriated
The Sindh government has decided to send back all doctors, who are working on different administrative positions in other departments, to the health department to meet the shortfall of doctors and to make all health facilities in the province fully functional.
Health Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, while talking reporters after the meeting, said a person who had been hired to serve in the health department should be utilised for serving the ailing humanity.
He added that the health department was facing a shortfall of thousands of doctors and because of the absence of doctors at hospitals, millions were suffering.
Regarding the performance of heads of 11 vertical programs in health, Mandhro said the chief minister had asked for pooling up the resources of all these programmes and using them in the areas where there was an immediate need.