PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided in principle to hand over ambulances of its all hospitals to Rescue 1122, saying the initiative will improve ambulatory care in the province and ensure its uninterrupted availability to the people.

The matter will be presented in the upcoming meeting of the cabinet for approval.

The decision was made during a high-level meeting about the reform initiatives of the health department here on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan chaired the meeting, which was attended by health minister Taimur Salim Jhagra, health and relief secretaries, health services and Rescue 1122 directors-general and other relevant officials.

Decides to outsource diagnostic, non-clinical services in secondary care hospitals

The chief minister directed the health and relief departments to finalise matters about the handing over of ambulances to Rescue 1122 without delay.

The meeting also decided to devise a proper mechanism for ad hoc recruitment and expedite the ongoing process to recruit doctors and other medical staff and decided that a meeting of all departments concerned would be convened next week to finalise that mechanism.

It decided to outsource diagnostic and non-clinical services in the secondary care hospitals.

The meeting discussed matters related to the posting of management members and doctors of general cadre and decided to empower the health department for the posting and transfer against all administrative posts except posting and transfer for key administrative slots of the department.

It also decided to implement the e-transfer policy in the department to streamline the postings and transfers of doctors and other staff in the health department. The meeting decided to empower the Independent Monitoring Unit of the health department to monitor the district headquarters hospitals and other secondary care hospitals with the special focus on referral system and availability of emergency medicines there.

The chief minister said his government had prioritised the provision of the maximum possible healthcare facilities to the people and would utilise all available resources to strengthen the health sector in the province.

He ordered the availability of essential medicines in the emergency departments of all government hospitals and asked the relevant authorities to work on the outsourcing of the supply of emergency medicines to hospitals to make the process transparent.

Mr Mahmood issued orders for the immediate transfer of all clerical staff and section officers of the health department occupying the same posts for more than two years.

Officials told the meeting that preparations had been made to extend the Sehat Insaf Card scheme to the entire population of the province.

They said the province had witnessed a considerable increase in immunisation coverage, while the availability of medicines in basic and rural health centres had also increased significantly during the last couple of months.

The officials said work on the outsourcing of various hospitals in the merged tribal areas was in progress.

The chief minister directed the relevant quarters to include the purchase of medical equipment in PC-Is of the new hospitals to ensure procurement on the completion of buildings.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020