PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department awaits funds from the federal government to implement its programme of strengthening the basic health units, according to relevant officials.

The government, they said, had decided to strengthen 786 basic health units (BHUs) under the minimum health delivery package programme to provide diagnosis and treatment facilities to people at primary level.

“Each BHU will have a doctor, laboratory and a technician. The health department has a total of 1,530 facilities including 23 district headquarters hospitals and 10 teaching hospitals but about 70 per cent people visit private facilities,” officials said.

They said that federal government was likely to approve the Rs19 billion package to enable Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to implement its plan of integration of vertical programmes with focus on expanded programme on immunisation, maternal and neonatal child health, lady health workers (LHWs) and nutrition.

“The amount will be spent on purchase of equipment and medicines,” they said. They added that people didn’t visit official health facilities owing to shortage of staff, medicines and equipment there.

The department was ready to recruit 3,000 LHWs in addition to the present strength of 13,500 because they played vital role in immunisation and mother and child services, they added.

The officials said that each basic health facility would be run by a committee to be formed on community basis to monitor its performance and recommend measures accordingly.

They said that two additional posts were created at the offices of the executive district officers to monitor the performance of BHUs and report to the high-ups. The district health offices would get financial and administrative autonomy to ensure continuation of services to the people, they said, adding that BHUs would be supported by 2,000 community midwives, who would be hired for door-to-door service.

“The LHWs provides health services to 51 per cent population and we have set a target to enhance it to 80 per cent in the next three years,” they said.

According to officials, each BHU will have the services of nutritionists, who will be tasked to visit schools in the union council and provide health tips to the children such as washing of hands before and after meal, cutting of nails, taking bath and brushing teeth.

They said that health department planned after passage of 18th Amendment to take absorbs programmes into the regular system as the federal government would stop funding the same next year.

According to them, the department will do away with posts of project directors and coordinators because all the programmes will become part of regular structure of the health department.

The projects and programmes would be supervised by technical advisers, who would report to director-general health, officials said. They added that the department had 50,000 employees but the services were not up to the mark.

“The DHOs will report to the director-general health about the performance of BHUs,” officials said. However, they would be empowered to collect and spend funds to ensure availability of human resources, drugs and equipment, officials said.