PESHAWAR: The health department has issued directives to all health facilities across the province to stay alert on polling and post-polling day to ensure better services to the people in case of any eventuality including incident of terrorism.

The instructions issued by the health secretariat on Tuesday meant to ensure availability of doctors, nurses, paramedics and support staff as well as enough stock of medicines and equipment, especially essential and life-saving drugs, to deal with the people getting wounded in violence on polling day scheduled for July 25 and a day after.

The director-general health services has been urged to coordinate the entire medical work on both the days and ensure that the facilities remain ready to be able to provide better services to the people in case of violence.

Directives meant to ensure provision of treatment to injured in case of violence

A control room under the director-general health will monitor the overall activities and will inform the secretary office on regular basis, according to the directives.

The order said that the accident and emergency departments must be fully alert to provide prompt services to critically-injured people and ambulances should be made available to rapidly transport them and save their lives.

The secretary office will oversee the entire province through the office of director-general health services. The latter would be responsible to ensure that injured people are rushed from the spot of violence to the nearby health facilities.

According to the Standard Operating Procedure, the director-general would also ensure that patients are being shifted to the well-equipped facilities from the areas, which are short of facilities or not in a position to handle with severely-injured people.

The hospital directors of the public sector medical teaching institutions have been asked to stay round the clock for the said two days in their respective facilities and ensure a better oversight so that the violence-hit people get state-of-the-art facilities besides ensuring availability of blood to be transfused to the needy ones.

Additionally, the medical superintendents of the district headquarters hospitals throughout the province have been instructed to remain present on the specified days and make duty rota of the staff along with displaying of their telephone numbers at their facilities.

In case of non-compliance with the directives, the director-general health has been asked to take strict disciplinary action and ensure that the top health officials implement the orders in letter and spirit.

“The district health officers in the respective districts must also take care of injured people at the category D hospitals, which shall also remain open on the election and post-polling day without any break,” said the order.

To make-up for the power outages, the health department has also directed to arrange for generator backup and ensure that they have functional equipment at the minor and major operation theatres in addition to fully operational radiological and pathological services.

The directives have been issued following attacks on election rallies, which also included the one that left ANP leader Haroon Bashir Bilour and 22 others dead last week in Peshawar.

“The department is also required to ensure presence of female staff too,” said the order. It added that information about all the arrangements at the hospitals and the telephone and fax numbers of the relevant health officials should be communicated to the chief minister, chief secretary and inspector general of police.

The Independent Monitoring Unlit of the health department has been directed to coordinate the efforts on both the days. “Staffers shall not avail leave except for local ones, who would permit short leave to cast their votes. The entire staff of all the facilities should remain on call,” said the directives.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2018