October 22, 2003	Wednesday	Sha’aban 25, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, Oct 21: The provincial health department plans to standardize services at the emergency wards of all the teaching hospitals in the province, a source in the health department told Dawn on Tuesday.

Groundwork in this regard, he said, had already started and preliminary negotiations had been held with the stakeholders. The hospitals have been directed to forward their requirements along with cost estimates.

“Great variations have been noticed in the services being provided at the emergency wards of the teaching hospitals with some available at certain hospitals and missing at the others,” he said and added that in view of this situation it had been decided that a standard set of services would be made available at all the hospitals.

Explaining the project, the source said: “We will endeavour to bring the functioning of systems, patient care, general cleanliness, sterilisation, medicine availability, reception performance, operation theatres, linen, signs, assistance by supporting staff, provision of wheel chairs and stretchers, diagnostic facilities, disaster management plan and staffing on a par in all teaching hospitals.

The project would be completed during the current fiscal year. The provincial government has already allocated Rs860 million in the current Annual Development Programme to improve healthcare facilities. Under the health development programme, major hospitals are to be improved through provision of latest equipment and other infrastructural facilities.

According to conservative estimates the three teaching hospitals of Rawalpindi alone need around Rs100 million to improve the working of their emergency wards. The emergency wards, under the new initiative, would be getting medicines, state of art machinery, additional staff and logistics.

The government, the source said, realized that the public healthcare system provided inadequate coverage both in terms of quality and quantity and the emergency wards of the government- run hospitals were particularly in a poor shape.

The health department had earlier instructed all the hospitals to provide free medicines in the emergency wards to all patients without exception.