Health Dept issues report on health sector

Reforms helped improve health services ; 300 doctors recruited to meet shortage

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has introduced a number of reforms and initiatives to ensure that every individual in the province has access to quality health services.

A report issued by the Health Department about its three years performance said that 1,000 nurses, 600 paramedics and 300 doctors had been recruited on ad hoc basis to cope with the shortage of medical staff.

It said that over Rs3 billion had been allocated to give special financial incentives to doctors serving in far-flung areas.

The communiqué said that Rs500 million had been allocated in seven divisions of the province for the treatment of Aids, cancer, hepatitis and diabetics.

It said that around 2,118 Aids patients were currently registered with HIV treatment centre and they were being provided free treatment at the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar and the District Headquarters Hospital in Kohat.

Additionally Rs1 billion had been allocated under the Annual Development Programme for 2016-17 for free emergency treatment in all teaching and district headquarters hospitals in the province, the handout.

It said that 500,000 patients had received free emergency treatment so far.

Under the recently launched Sehat Sahulat Card Scheme, 18 lakh households covering a total of 1.4 billion people in the province would get free medical treatment costing Rs540,000 per household every year.  

The communiqué said that the government had extended kidney transplant and dialysis facility to Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar and Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad. 

It said that the kidney transplant and dialysis facility had also been extended to hospitals in Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Swat and Mardan districts.

The handout said that Rs25 million had been earmarked for free insulin
being provided at insulin banks in Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching
Hospital in Peshawar and hospitals in Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Swat,
Mardan and Abbottabad.

The communiqué said the government had allocated Rs200 million for immunisation programme and steps had been taken to ensure every child was vaccinated against polio.

It said that the Independent Monitoring Units
had been established
to ensure efficient health service delivery and accountability in hospitals.