May 31, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424

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PESHAWAR, May 30: Provincial Health Services Academy is to launch a degree programme in public health administration from next month, health official told Dawn on Friday.

Established in 1998, the Provincial Health Services Academy (PHSA) has been offering short courses in health economics, business administration, human nutrition, primary health care, hospital management to health administrators, doctors, health workers and nurses to strengthen their capacity by imparting them technical desired know-how about tackling the administrative affairs.

The PHSA had received 153 applications till May 24, the last date for submitting admission forms against 20 seats, reserved for Master of Public Health (MPH). This is the first such courses being offered by any government-owned institution in the country.

After scrutiny of applications, entry test for admissions would be held in the first week of June. The PHSA was awarded affiliation by the University of Peshawar which would conduct examinations and award degrees.

All the MBBS, BDS doctors and Lady Health Visitors (LHVs) and nurses with BA/BSc degrees are eligible to apply. Some 16 seats would be filled from the government servants working already in the health department, having the NWFP domicile and maximum age of 45 years and five year experience with two years in periphery.

The cost of government servants would be borne by Women Health Project. Four seats have been reserved for self-finance, where each candidate would be required to pay an amount of Rs120,000 per year.

The course would be completed in one year, with three semesters each comprising 18 weeks. A total of 18 courses would be offered.

“In future, we would be offering MSc degrees in different disciplines and sub-specialities, like occupational health, health education, nutritional education and hospital management,” said an official. According to him, the PHSA had 27 faculty members at provincial and periphery level besides 45 adjunct faculty members but an additional staff would be hired at a later stage.

These academies were established simultaneously in all four provinces and funds for these academies have been provided by WHP. Initially, it was planned that District Health Development Centres (DHDC) would be set up in all 24 districts of the NWFP to provide training opportunities to doctors, health workers and nurses locally.

However, it was not feasible at that time and the government decided to establish these centres at the divisional level. So, DHDCs were established in six districts — Swat, Chitral, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, Mardan and Abbotabad. In three districts, now the centres are non-existent, whereas in the rest, these are absolutely ineffective, because there is no staff and facilities to be able to train the people.

The official claimed that degree programme offered by the PHSA would attract more students, given the fact that the cost of a single degree course is Rs3.5 million in UK, Rs300,000 in Lahore and Islamabad and Rs900,000 in the Agha Khan Hospital. He said that the total cost of the MPH programme was extremely low, which would benefit the students.