LAHORE: After failure of the existing healthcare system, the Punjab government has notified rules for the establishment of district health authorities (DHAs) all over the province under which executive district officers (EDO) of health are being replaced by chief executive officers (CEOs).

In the proposed health bodies, technocrats are being given a major role to run the administrative system of primary health care facilities, including district headquarters hospitals (DHQs), tehsil headquarters hospitals (THQs) and basic health units (BHUs).

A CEO of the proposed authority shall be deemed to be a technocrat member and act as its secretary. The chairman and vice chairman would also be technocrat members. The authorities will be set up under Punjab Local Government Act 2003 after local bodies are established.

In order to materialise the plan, the Primary and Secondary Health Care Department (P&SHCD) notified District Transition Committees (DTCs) to implement the establishment of DHAs. It conveyed to all divisional commissioners and district coordination officers in Punjab through a letter. A copy of related documents is available with Dawn.

Bodies to monitor health facilities, other related issues

The documents stated the DCO concerned will act as convener of each DTC while EDO (health) and district monitoring officer (DMO) its members. The committees have been tasked with preparing a list of existing human resource and inventory of all offices, equipment and resources available; identification of all missing and vacant human resource; fill new posts during the transition period; and communicating with the P&SHCD for respective postings and notifications; preparation of Schedule of New Expenses for new posts required according to the organogram; preparation of budgetary requirements along with resources required to start the new system; and redistribution of offices and resources according to the organogram.

The administrative wing of the P&SHCD will spearhead the transition. However, a control room for the purpose and coordination with the DTCs has been established under the supervision of Directorate General Health Services Punjab.

According to the local government law, the DHAs would be responsible for monitoring all health facilities in Punjab as well as other health-related issues, including construction of new hospitals, dispensaries, basic health centres, new blocks in hospitals, construction of new departments, promotions of doctors and nurses, suspensions, budget approval, enrolment of new staff and monitoring of health centres in districts.

According to these rules, the post of EDO (health) will be replaced by a CEO, a grade 18 officer, who may be appointed for three years. He/she must be 35 to 60 years old with an MBBS degree and Masters in Public Health or equivalent diploma/degree and a minimum of 15 years of experience in the relevant field.

The DHAs will comprise members of the district administration, local bodies representatives and doctors. They will be vested with special powers to take action against those not performing their duties according to rules and regulations. The rules notified by the Punjab government were cited as the Punjab District Authorities (Composition) Rules 2016.

The documents said these members shall be general or non-technocrat and technocrat members. The general or non-technocrat members will be indirectly elected from the local governments under First Schedule of the Act as determined under Rule 4 on the basis of the proportion of population of a district.

The government shall, by a notification, determine composition of the authority for each district specifying the number of indirectly elected members and the nominated technocrat members. The number of indirectly elected members from local governments (Metropolitan Corporation) shall not exceed 20.

Similarly, the number of members from municipal corporations and district councils will also be determined according to proportion of the population.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2016