ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is planning to introduce telemedicine at the basic health units (BHUs) and rural health centres (RHCs) in Islamabad to provide remote consultations to patients.

A meeting, chaired by CDA Chairman and Chief Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa, discussed the launch of telemedicine at BHUs and RHCs. It was attended by CDA members, the deputy commissioner, the executive director of the CDA Hospital and other relevant officers.

The discussions focused on expanding access to healthcare services to the residents of the federal capital. According to a press release, the meeting was briefed in detail about the proposed telemedicine initiative.

“The initiative is aimed at improving access to professional medical consultations, especially for patients who may not have immediate access to healthcare professionals. The telemedicine services would enable the patients to consult doctors remotely, thus addressing the critical need for healthcare after regular hours,” read the press release.

It said the CDA chairman emphasised the importance of making healthcare services more accessible and efficient, especially during non-operating hours.

He instructed the officials concerned to work out the budget for the introduction of telemedicine at each BHU.

He also directed the officials concerned to ensure that patients received quality and continuous access to healthcare services.

It was decided to formulate a roadmap for introducing telemedicine as a pilot project at a few BHUs for the first six months followed by a comprehensive plan for the rollout of telemedicine across all BHUs in the next phase.

The statement said that the CDA chief stressed the urgency of improving primary healthcare access in Islamabad by introducing a programme to overhaul the RHCs and BHUs in a bid to enhance their quality and access to services.

The chairman directed the development of a comprehensive business model for revenue generation at these BHUs and RHCs. He stated that this revenue would be spent on BHUs’ infrastructure and improvement of health facilities. Recently, the government improved several basic and rural health centres and undertook renovation works.

However, despite the presence of over a dozen such centres, four major hospitals in the city — Pims, Polyclinic, Federal General Hospital (Chak Shahzad), and the CDA hospital — are overburdened.

“The role of BHUs and RHUs is very important as they provide basic health facilities to citizens in their neighbourhoods. Therefore, extra focus should be paid to these facilities,” said an official, adding that the influx of patients from Islamabad in main hospitals could be reduced by providing efficient healthcare at these facilities.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2024