LAHORE: For the first time, different government hospitals in Punjab will now be run by trained health managers.

General cadre doctors who completed training from Management and Professional Development Department (MPDD) after passing National Testing Service (NTS) examinations will now be the medical superintendents of DHQ and THQ hospitals.

The notification regarding appointment of 39 health managers as medical superintendents has been issued, said Primary and Secondary Health Department Secretary Ali Jan Khan on Sunday.

Punjab has some 34 district headquarters and 88 tehsil headquarters hospitals and the health managers would also get a special allowance between Rs40,000 and Rs60,000 per month according to their basic pay scales.

Medics after NTS exam will work as medical superintendents

Appointment of health managers was the first step towards transforming state-run infirmaries into patient-friendly institutions. A plan to revamp all the DHQ hospitals had been started. The gaps in the existing infrastructure of these institutions would be removed through provision of better health facilities to the patients, by ensuring repair and maintenance of medical equipment and by evolving health management information system at hospital level.

“The hospital management will improve further as trained and qualified professionals would run these institutions with a different strategy. Patients would witness a changed atmosphere in the hospitals in the coming days,” said the secretary.

Several hundred applications of general cadre doctors were received in response to Primary and Secondary Health Department advertisement regarding appointment of medical superintendents of DHQ and THQ hospitals. All applicants appeared in the NTS examination and successful candidates were selected for training from MPDD purely on merit, said Mr Khan.

The doctors were imparted training in management, administrative and financial matters while special focus was on the capacity building of the health managers.

The secretary said his department was taking concrete and sustainable steps to improve performance indicators of DHQ and THQ hospitals and to run their administrative as well as financial matters more smoothly and efficiently.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2016