PHC’s organisational expansion lauded

LAHORE:The Board of Commissioners of the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) Friday appreciated the efforts of the Commission for further expanding its organisational structure to four regional offices in Multan, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Bahawalpur.

Chairperson BoC chairperson Justice (retd) M Bilal Khan chaired the 87th meeting held at the PHC head office. The meeting was apprised that two more offices would be established in the near future. The Board was presented with the departmental quarterly–July to September–progress report for review. CEO PHC Dr M Saqib Aziz briefed the Board members on the performance of different departments.

The PHC would also build its offices at all divisional headquarters of the province in due course. During the last quarter, after a thorough evaluation, the Board gave decisions for 34 complaints, which had been earlier investigated by the Complaints Directorate. Overall, the incumbent Board has decided 182 cases. So far, the PHC has registered 3,517 complaints, 1,796 disposed of, and 914 have been decided, while 462 are under active investigation. Moreover, the Commissioners gave their nod for the issuance of regular licences to 16 healthcare establishments (HCEs).

The Board expressed its satisfaction over the steps taken for the registrations of 60,690 HCEs, and giving provisional and regular licences to 55,718 HCEs of both the public and private sectors; thereby bringing these under the regulatory ambit of the PHC. Also, during the period under review, the Commission carried out regular inspections of 493 and special inspections of 1,146 HCEs.

The BoC was told that the Commission was vigorously pursuing its anti-quackery campaign. During the last quarter, the enforcement teams visited around 6,400 treatment centres, and sealed about 1,442 quack-operated premises.