Children emergency rooms to be formed in KP hospitals

PESHAWAR: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to establish specialised children emergency rooms and telemedicine centres in public sector hospitals of the province.

The decision was taken at a meeting held here with Chief Minister Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair, said a handout.

Provincial Minister for Health Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Advisor to Chief Minister for Finance Muzamil Aslam, Additional Chief Secretary for Planning and Development Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, Secretary Health Adeel Shah and high-ups of Child Life Foundation attended the meeting.

The meeting was told that nine state of the art emergency rooms and 100 telemedicine satellite centres would be established with the aim to ensure availability of quality emergency healthcare facilities to children at their doorsteps. The proposed emergency rooms and telemedicine centres would be equipped with modern instruments alongside 24/7 availability of specialised doctors and other paramedical staff.

An MoU to this effect will be signed between the provincial health department and Child Life Foundation after the formal approval of the provincial cabinet.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister termed the establishment of emergency rooms and telemedicine centres as need of the day and directed the quarters concerned for finalisation of home-work as soon as possible and table the matter before the cabinet for formal approval.

He termed the reforms in the health sector and provision of quality healthcare facilities to citizens as one of the priority areas of the government. The government would not only encourage adoption of the latest technology for this purpose but would also provide required resources on priority basis, he added.