Minister says ongoing health projects to be completed in 2019

PESHAWAR: Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan has said that all ongoing mega health projects will be completed in 2019 and these will be started phase-wise for service delivery.

Speaking at a press conference here, the minister said the government was going to appoint doctors on adhoc basis to meet the shortage of doctors in the province. Secretary Health Dr Farooq Jameel, Health Advisor Dr Jawad Wasif and Media Coordinator Daniyal Khan were also present on the occasion. Dr Hisham said that amendment to the MTI act was aimed to enhance the efficiency of hospitals and improve check and balance system.

The minister said that their leadership, bureaucracy and security forces were on the same page and they were supporting him to improve and strengthen healthcare system in the merged districts.

He said that health ADP for tribal districts was being reviewed and they would take practical steps for development of health system in these districts. He said media should also support the government in improving and strengthening health system.

He added that after approval of first health policy they would implement and ensure an accessible, equitable and quality healthcare through sustainable and comprehensive health system at all levels.

The health policy was not made overnight rather it took five months, the minister said. He added that DFID, which was also representative of health policy advisory council, allocated Rs6.04 million pounds to the KP government as a reward for making the policy.

The minister said the funds would be spent on strengthening 200 BHUs in the province. Dr Hisham said that health policy was aimed at implementing the policies that would reform and strengthen KP Healthcare System, enabling it to provide essential, cost effective and quality health care to all its citizens and with focus on developing preventive, primary & secondary healthcare and strengthening tertiary level healthcare.

“This will ensure universal health coverage for the people based on equitable coverage, accountable, transparent, sound management & governance, results based management, safe for patients and staff, responsive service delivery and access of essential health services especially for the poor and vulnerable,” he said.

He added that steps would be taken to reduce the burden of diseases especially among vulnerable segments of the population, improve human resource management and enhance health financing for efficient service delivery to the people of KP.

The minister said that through this policy they would strengthen preventive healthcare services focusing on child immunization, reproductive health, MNCH, malnutrition and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases. He said the policy also focused on the prevention, early detection and subsidized curative support based on lifecycle approach and continuum of care for common diseases.

The department will address the major killers in new born and children under 5 years of age like diarrhea, ARI, measles, malaria and malnutrition through integrated management strategies.

He said that a programme would be developed to improve the nutrition status of children below 3 years and the women of child bearing age.

The minister said that strengthening autonomous bodies and improving pharmaceutical management, developing health financing strategy for the province were some of the goals to be achieved.

Dr Hisham said the Health Sector Reform Unit of the Health Department would facilitate implementation of the new health policy. He added that a monitoring and evaluation mechanism would be developed for the health policy to assess progress towards fulfilling the outcomes outlined in the health policy.

He said that HPAC would meet on quarterly basis to oversee the implementation of health policy.