ISLAMABAD: The government plans to link the capital’s primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare centres online in order to facilitate patients.

These healthcare centres have been placed under the health ministry. The online system will not only make it possible to check the availability of beds in the health facilities but show what kind of diseases are more common so that arrangements could be made to ensure availability of relevant medicines.

In the past the healthcare centres were placed under as many as five different divisions due to which it was not possible to ensure coordination among the health facilities.

Now all health facilities of federal capital have been placed under the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS).

Ministry of NHS Director General Dr Asad Hafeez, while talking to Dawn, said in Punjab the online system had already been introduced at 25 district headquarters hospitals.

“Currently, it is observed that whenever a person visits a Basic Health Unit (BHU) with a complaint of chest pain, he is referred to a tertiary care hospital. If the hospital does not have a bed he dies in the ambulance,” he said. “Because of the automated system, which will integrate all the heath facilities, it will become possible for the BHU to check which hospital has a vacant bed in cardiac department. So after giving first aid patient will be referred to the hospital which will have a vacant bed,” Dr Hafeez said.

“Similarly we will be able to check that patients of which disease are visiting hospitals and what is the status of availability of medicines,” he said.

According to a statement on Thursday Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Chairman Dr Umer Saif gave a presentation about the automated system to Federal Minister for NHS Aamer Mehmood Kiani.

Dr Saif presented multiple successful initiatives that have been implemented by PITB in Punjab, primarily focusing on Hospital Information Management System. This system will reduce the load on big hospitals such as Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Polyclinic.

He proposed automated managing of the workflow of patients as a key factor in reducing the patient load. The minister suggested improving access of the common man to the best health facilities.

The health facilities in Islamabad territory will be integrated using state of the art information technology. Integrated ambulance system and bed registry will also be established in capital city, the statement concludes.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2018