WHO, PHC decide to join hands for patients safety

LAHORE:The World Health Organization will join hands with the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) in implementing the latter’s minimum service delivering standards (MSDS) aimed at ensuring patient safety and improving quality of the healthcare service delivery.

It was decided at a meeting held here on Wednesday. At the meeting, a visiting WHO delegation was given a detailed briefing about the MSDS and their implementation in all kinds of the healthcare establishments (HCEs) across the province.

The PHC team comprised Director Licensing and Accreditation Dr Muhammad Anwar Janjua, Director Complaints Prof Riaz A. Tasneem, Additional Directors (Clinical Governance) Dr Majid Latif and others officers. The nine-member WHO delegation included Dr Mathew Nielson, Dr Donna Forsyth, Dr Zulfiqar Khan, Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed, Dr Samia Al-Barwani and Dr Bassem Zayed.

Both institutions also agreed to work jointly for improving other areas of the health sector. The WHO delegation was briefed about the regulatory framework of the PHC being implemented, mandate of its working, and its successes in this regard.

The delegation was told that the PHC had registered around 57,000 and licensed over 41,000 private and public sector HCEs, where the MSDS were being implemented; hence encompassing issues related to the patient safety and improved healthcare service delivery.

About the anti-quackery efforts of the PHC, the delegation was informed that the Commission had sealed over 21,000 businesses of quacks in a continued campaign to eliminate the menace. They were also briefed about the working of the Complaint Directorate of the PHC.

access to quality health services approved: Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) Thursday approved the Punjab Human Capital Investment Project (PHCIP).

The online meeting was attended by Secretary P&D Board, Imran Sikandar Baloch, Dr Shahinshah Faisal Azim, Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Social Protection Authority and Dr Lubna Nazir, Project Director HCIP.

The main objective of PHCIP is to increase the access to quality health services, economic and social inclusion of the poor and vulnerable households in select districts in Punjab through life-cycle approach. This 5-year project will bring qualitative and quantitative improvements in Punjab’s Human Development Index (HDI) and related indicators. The project aims to increase the access to quality health services, economic and social inclusion of vulnerable groups.

The total cost of the project is US$ 330 million that includes IBRD/IDA US $200 million/ ¥ 21.428 billion /Rs 32.00 billion and in-kind contribution of US $ 130 million as counterpart funding by the Punjab government which is merely a notional reflection of 5 years’ budgetary allocation in the relevant project sectors. The project will be rolled out in phased manner in 11 top districts selected on the basis of multiple dimensions for poverty (education, health, living conditions, etc).

Teachers’ concern: University of Engineering & Technology’s Teaching Staff Association (UET-TSA) expressing concerns over financial crisis faced by the university has demanded the Punjab government return one billion rupees of the university to bring the university out of financial crisis.

Dr Fahim said the UET Lahore had been paying salaries to the staff through borrowed money for the last many months and warned that if the Punjab government did not return one billion rupees, the UET teachers would be forced to protest.