PESHAWAR: As part of reforms, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has decided to fully empower the relevant board of governors to manage all four teaching hospitals of the province in line with market dynamics.

However, they will be answerable to the government for their performance, according to the relevant officials.

The officials told Dawn on Monday that the selection of BoG members was underway for Peshawar’s Khyber Teaching Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex and Abbottabad’s Ayub Medical Complex.

“The BoGs have been given all powers to take independent decisions in line with the dynamics of the market. Simultaneously, they’ve been made answerable to the government for their performance. They will regularly submit performance report to the government,” an official said.

According to another official in the know, the Health Reforms Act 2015, which was passed by the provincial assembly to utilise the infrastructure and human resource for the benefit of patients, is also being extended to Bannu, Mardan and Kohat in the next phase.

Will be answerable to government for performance

“Every BoG will implement the government’s policies through hospital director and medical director,” he said.

The official said seven members of the board would be from private sector, while health, finance and establishment secretaries would represent the government.

“Only private members, including medical professionals, civil society representative, and people from commerce, industry and scientific fields, will have the right to vote in the BoG matters relating to decisions.

“The presence of secretaries will serve as a check on BoG. They will report to the provincial chief secretary if BoGs and any of its members go against the basic spirit of the government’s policies,” he said.

The official said the government could terminate BoG member(s) for under-performance and is lawfully authorised to seek the replacements from the market on competitive lines. “The facilities will receive grant-in-aid from the government.

The government cannot intervene in its day-to-day affairs of the hospital.”

According to other officials, the government has set targets for the board.

The health department will regulate services at the facilities through in-built mechanism in the shape of Healthcare Commission and Independent Monitoring Board.

They said the government wanted enhancement in utilisation of resources at the facilities and will task the BoGs to upgrade clinical and investigative services to more patients by taking measures to ensure availability of advanced machine, equipments and highly-trained staff to provide quality services to the people.

“The government will advise BoGs about its policy from time to time. These hospitals had also been granted autonomy 16 years ago only papers because the minister called the shots.

The new role denies any administrative role for the government and confines it to regulations of services. Government will monitor and evaluate performance of the outlets to make the services affordable for patients,” an official said.

He said the health department could ask any of these health institutions for fewer admissions in certain wards and why MRI scanners and other machines weren’t fully utilised or remained out-of-order.

“The boards are accountable to the government on policy guidelines by it. The BoGs are required to give practical shape to the government’s model which ensured complete independence to the health institution to make local level decision in line with law.”

The officials said the meeting of the Search and Nomination Committee formed by the government to start implementation of reforms law would identify members of BoGs in a meeting next week.

They said once formed, the BoGs would be given written targets by government for which the former would try to hire the services of professional persons for the positions of hospital and medical directors and that both had to implement reforms in their respective hospitals upon BoG’s instructions.

The officials said the system was different from the autonomy implemented in earlier in these four hospitals in 2000, wherein chief executives, who were government’s employees, ran the hospitals.

They said the new law empowered hospital BoGs to take independent decisions in line with market dynamics.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2015

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