KARACHI, July 26: Sindh Health Department is aiming at integrating primary health care (PHC) services throughout the province as a matter of policy so that maximum benefit can be derived from the resources placed at the disposal of the health sector.

This was stated by the Director General of Health Services, Sindh, Dr Qadir Baksh Memon, while presiding over the closing session of an 11-day workshop on “Integrated Management of Childhood Illness” here on Saturday.

He said the expansion of Basic Development Needs Programme was a step towards achieving the very objective. Training of BCG technicians and malaria supervisors in microscopy, promotion of community involvement in prevention programmes and reducing verticality at the grassroots level were also among the measures being taken for the purpose.

He pointed out that a referral system was being developed in the province with the WHO support.

Appreciating the subject programme, he thanked the WHO, Unicef, Aga Khan University Hospital, Aga Khan Health Services Programme and National Institute of Child Health for their support in this regard.

Dr Memon said that improvement in mother and child health was on the top of the health department’s agenda and held out the assurance that he would personally monitor the programme besides ensuring round-the-clock availability of essential drugs at health facilities.

Earlier, the WHO’s Operations Officer for Sindh, Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi, requested the health department to revitalize the Sindh Communicable Disease Board and take effective measures for coordinating efforts being made by various preventive programmes in the province.

He also appreciated the Sindh government for making community involvement an essential prerequisite of every preventive programme, including BDN, TB-DOTS, EPI-Polio Eradication, Roll Back Malaria and IMCI.

Chairman of the AKU’s paediatrics department, Prof Abdul Ghaffar Billoo, said that the IMCI would ultimately be instrumental in lowering child mortality. He pointed out that 260 outlets of the Aga Khan Health Service Programme were implementing IMCI. — APP