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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Task force on health: Questions raised over inclusion of inexperienced doctors in panel

By Mushtaq Yusufzai
September 24, 2018

PESHAWAR: The Task Force on Health notified by the federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on September 19, 2018 lacks representation from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and has got three nominees from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.

The task force has a health and a nursing component.

The terms of reference of the task force are stated as ‘(to) evaluate the status of health care in Pakistan, in all its aspects, with statistical analysis, including but not limited to medical, dental, nursing and ancillary health care and report its findings to the competent authorities.’

The health component of the task force has eight members while five names have been notified for the nursing side. The federal secretary for health will be the ex-officio member for both components.

Dr Nausherwan Burki, the architect of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH) and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cousin has expectedly been notified at the top of the list of the health component task force.

Other members of the health component include Dr Faisal Sultan, the chief executive officer (CEO) of SKMCH; Dr Aasim Yusuf, the chief medical officer (CMO) of SKMCH; Prof Abdul Bari, CEO of Indus Hospital Karachi, Prof Hamid Zaman of the Department

of Biomedical Engineering and International Health, Boston University USA; Latif Sheikh, former director pharmacy services Aga Khan University Karachi and Prof Zulfiqar Bhutta from the Department of Pediatrics, Aga Khan University Hospital.

A task force was definitely needed to revamp the health system. However, its composition suggests that not much thought was given to it. Healthcare experts have expressed reservations about its composition.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, some experts felt dismayed as they felt the task force did not have a broad base.

Excluding the ex-officio member, the health component of the task force has seven members. Three are from SKMCH - Dr Burki was the founder CEO and presently member of its board of governors, Dr Faisal Sultan is the present CEO and Dr Aasim Yusuf is the CMO.

People are at a loss to understand as to how just being employed at SKMCH makes one an authority to sit on a panel ostensibly to revise the health policy for the whole country.

Both Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Aasim Yusuf have no credentials or experience to formulate a public health policy. They are capable but their only experience is successfully running a medium size hospital meant for cancer treatment.

Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Aasim Yusuf were placed as chairman board of governors of Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar and member Ayub Teaching Hospital in Abbottabad, respectively, by the last PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, their performance wasn’t outstanding.

Their nominations were generally welcomed as it was thought they had experience of running a successful hospital. Running a hospital, however, is different than making a health policy.

Prof Abdul Bari is a cardiac surgeon and chief executive officer of the Indus Hospital in Karachi. He also has no experience in public health or policy.

He was a member of the BoG for Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar during the last PTI government. Sources at the hospital described his performance as lacklustre.

Experts say that health policy of a country includes many different facets and angles. Most important is primary healthcare. It is surprising that there is not a single primary health expert in the task force.

Many capable people can be found in Pakistan even in government service having expertise in public health.

Many have completed higher education in prestigious universities around the world. None however have found a place in the national task force for health.

Health professionals have welcomed the inclusion of Dr Hamid Zaman in the task force. He is an academic at the Boston University.

Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta is an internationally known academic and has worked in the fields of nutrition and mother and child health.

The terms of reference of the committee includes dental health as well.Surprisingly, there is no dental health expert in the panel.

There is no representation in the task force from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Baluchistan. It is by no means necessary that good clinicians or hospital administrators have a perspective on policy as well. Policy is different than clinical acumen, an expert emphasized.

This correspondent sent a list of questions to Dr Nausherwan Burki. He was asked as to why three out of seven members in the panel were from the SKMCH?

What was the justification for putting Dr Abdul Bari in the panel? Why is there no representation from KP and Baluchistan in the task force? Why are no public health specialists in the task force? Why was there no dentist on the task force?

Dr Burki did not answer the questions.People hope that the government will realise its mistake and reconstitute the panel. “The task force work will be for generations. It should be broad based with inclusion of members from across the health care field. Representation should be given to those with perspective on public health policy, health system economics and social patterns,” a senior consultant opined wishing anonymity.

He said the government should stop acting as if the Shaukat Khanum hospital was the answer to the shortcomings in the country’s healthcare system. “Dr Nausherwan Burki should look beyond his close circle of friends,” said a senior consultant.

Experts said that there are other successful hospitals as well. For example, they said, Shifa Hospital in Islamabad was being run successfully. “The administration is involved in primary care work through its Shifa Foundation. On these criteria, perhaps Shifa deserved more places on the task force than SKMCH,” the consultant stressed.