LAHORE
A delegation of the Turkish Health Ministry visited the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) and discussed ways to improve standards of the health services in the province.
According to a press release on Thursday, Chief Operating Officer, PHC, Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan and senior officials welcomed the delegation. The COO informed the delegation that the Punjab government was the first to take this initiative of institutionalising the PHC for improving quality of the healthcare service delivery in all public and private healthcare establishments (HCEs). He briefed the delegation about the commission, its objectives, core functions and challenges. The delegation was informed that the commission had already registered over 32,000 establishments, whereas more than 18,000 provisional licences had been issued to the HCEs, and more than 238 workshops had also been conducted by the PHC to train the medical managers for implementation of the Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS) at their respective HCEs.
“To eliminate quackery in all its manifestations, the PHC has closed down businesses of over 5,000 quacks and imposed a fine of over Rs30 million,” he added.
Dr Ajmal informed the delegation about the initiatives taken by the PHC for infection control at the operation theatre during the surgery and the necessary arrangements proposed by the PHC before and after the operation, care of the patient after shifting in the ward, management of medication and responsibilities of the management.
Head of the delegation Dr Hassan Kagill admired the PHC for its strenuous efforts, and hoped that implementation of the MSDS would help in bringing more improvements in the health sector of the Punjab.