400 unregistered health care facilities warned of action

The Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) on Thursday warned the unregistered health facilities in the province of heavy penalties in case they did not get themselves registered with the commission.

So far, the SHCC has issued warning letters to over 400 public and private hospitals in Karachi that did not register themselves with the health regulator. “After issuance of a public notice for the registration of health facilities, warning letters have also been issued to public and private hospitals in Karachi in the first phase. Heavy penalties would be imposed on health facilities if they failed to get themselves registered with the SHCC,” warned Dr Minhaj Qidwai, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the commission.

The SHCC CEO maintained that the sealing of unregistered health facilities would be followed by imposition of penalties on them. He added that no compromise would be made on the patient safety.

Meanwhile, a World Health Organization (WHO) mission on patient safety called on the SHCC officials in Karachi to discuss development and implementation of a patient safety programme in Pakistan to assist the health regulator in implementing safety standards in the province.

The meeting participants included Dr Qidwai, Dr Matthew Neilson, Dr Donna Lorrae Forsyth, Dr Zulfiqar Khan, Dr Samra Salim Abdullah Al Barwari, Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed, Dr Sara Salman and others.

The WHO delegation came to Pakistan to bring together a group of experts on patient safety, and infection prevention and control to review the existing policies and strategies in Pakistan to identify gaps, challenges and avenues of improvement in them.

During the meeting, the WHO team stressed the need for developing a standardised programme for patient safety in Pakistan and initiating community engagement programmes to create awareness in this regard. Dr Qidwai explained challenges that were being faced by the SHCC in improving the health care system in Sindh. The SHCC CEO discussed various areas where the WHO experts needed to focus on in implementing the patient safety programme.