PESHAWAR: The health department has asked the district level health facilities not to refer patients to secondary and tertiary care hospitals in provincial capital as they have got all basic facilities with a few exceptions like plastic surgery and other super specialties, according to sources.

Dr Ayub Roz, the director-general health, in a meeting with district health officers and medical superintendents of health facilities in Mardan division at Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) expressed concerns over the out-of-need referral of patients to higher, secondary and tertiary level facilities.

Health department has started an exercise to know the availability of facilities in the districts with a view to avoid unnecessary referral of patients.

The participants of the meeting were told that most of the district hospitals had got well-trained healthcare providers, who were capable of coping with emergencies and other procedures, so there was no need to send patients to outside hospitals.

DG health says district hospitals have all facilities with a few exceptions

Except neurological, plastic surgery and super specialties, the MMC had got wards, operation theatres, diagnostic services, labour room and emergency services at par with Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar but still patients were sent out to Peshawar, said Dr Ayub.

The only genuine issue being faced by the MMC was availability of only 26 beds, 13 each at the two gynea wards while three tehsil headquarters hospitals (THQs) had 300 beds for gynea obstetrics, he said.

It was proposed that the newly-constructed 200-bedded Paediatric Hospital should be opened for both maternal and child care with 100 beds each for maternal and child care to cope with patients’ load.

It was also said that the four wards of MMC presently housing Bacha Khan Medical College, would be given back when new college building was completed that would help to accommodate more patients.

Four DHQ hospitals in Mardan, Swabi, Batkhela and Nowshera are either under-construction or in the process of rehabilitation due to which patients are referred to MMC and Peshawar inevitably. At least the DHQ Mardan can bring its 60 bedded wards and full-fledged labour room into maximum possible use, the meeting was told.

Rest of all the nine Type-D and THQ hospitals around MMC should utilise the available resources to the maximum.

The director-general health said that maximum vacancies had been filled and then it was the local managerial capacity to bring the resources into use. He added that labour room services should be strengthened to the extent that not a single case was referred.

The meeting also agreed to fill posts of specialists in THQs and Type-D hospitals. It was also said that district nazims weren’t cooperating in budget allocations.

The meeting agreed to increase rate of ambulance service from Rs5 to Rs10 per kilometre so that people couldn’t use cheaper service for referral.

Non-availability of radiologists in Batkhela, Takht Bhai and Swabi was also cited as reasons for referral of patients for diagnostic purposes and it was agreed to develop standard operating procedure for referral.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2018