PESHAWAR: The health department has ordered the relevant officials to take disciplinary action against those employees, who stage protests and disrupt patients’ care in government health facilities, to ensure smooth delivery of services.

The action will be taken against the employees, who violate Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Services Providers and Facilities (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2020.

A letter was issued to all district health officers and medical superintendents of hospitals to implement the law seeking to avoid breaks in operations of health facilities owing to strikes and protests by the employees.

It said that health had always been a patient-centric profession. It added that health department was alive to face new emerging environment and different reforms were introduced to devise strategies to cope with the situation through best practices.

Letter says order meant to ensure smooth delivery of services in govt hospitals

“The department ensures to safeguard all rights of civil servants while designing reforms, which also provide more opportunities to professionals to upgrade their knowledge and skills,” said the letter.

It said that strikes and boycotts by various civil servants not only put human lives in potential danger but also brought into disrepute the department.

It has cited Section-7 of the law, which prohibits obstruction and disruption of healthcare services and considers such actions and their perpetrators punishable. According to it, such protests and breaches of principles of good governance and related law, regulations and policies of the provincial government are punishable.

The letter asked the respective health officers at the district level to educate their subordinates about all new reforms, regulation of good governance and professional conduct.

The letter issued from health secretariat is meant to ensure smooth functioning of health facilities and put brakes on unnecessary protests at hospitals. The law was passed by the provincial assembly last year.

According to Section-3 of the law, any act of violence against healthcare service providers or damage to property in a healthcare service institution is punishable. Anyone, who commits any act in contravention of it, will be punished with imprisonment of three years along with fine up to Rs50,000.

The sub-section (1) of the law says that the offender shall be liable to pay to the healthcare service institution a compensation of twice the amount of purchase price of medical equipment damaged and the loss caused to the property as may be determined by the court trying the offence.

In case of non-payment of compensation by the offender, sub-section (2) of the law says that the said sum shall be recovered as if it is an arrear of land revenue due from him. Any offence committed under Section-3 shall be cognisable and non-bailable, it says.

The law also makes it binding on healthcare institutions to give complete information of medical treatment to patients. It says that it shall be the responsibility of each healthcare service institution to furnish, in writing, complete information about medical treatment provided by it to the patients, who seek treatment in the said institution, or to their designated relatives.

The health workers have long been demanding enactment of law for their protection against violence by attendants of patients due to which the department tasked Khyber Medical University to join hands with International Committee of the Red Cross to draft a law for protection of health workers and facilities as well as ensures safety and care of patients.

Officials said that government was satisfied with the performance of the health workers but they shouldn’t resort to strikes. Doctors, nurses and paramedics encountered incidents of violence during duty but they continued their work, they added.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2022