Besides, quick turnover of high-level functionaries should be reduced to maintain continuity in the direction and capacity of district planning be enhanced.
These were some of the key recommendations presented in the concluding session of the first National Health Management Conference held with the theme “Managing for better health” organized by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) here on Sunday.
Presenting recommendations suggested by the speakers in the first session on “Planning and health systems management”, Co-Chairperson Prof Afroze Ramzan Sherali urged that mismatch between organization structure and functions should be minimized, managers be provided formal training in management to improve efficiency and effectiveness leading to better outcomes and improved indicators.
Health managers should look into the issues of access, efficiency, quality, equity and sustainability, while decentralization with proper training and authority, responsibility and accountability would lead to better outcomes, she suggested.
Prof Afroze further said that all organizations should develop strategic plans which would provide them a direction and lead to the achievement of goals. A strategic alliance produced multiplier effect which should be backed by proper MoU, communication and evaluation systems.
Health technology assessment (HTA) is an extension of evidence based medicine and should be used for scientific decision making and maximization of scarce resources, she added.
Co-chair of the second session on ‘Health management research’, Dr Asad Hafeez recommended regular educational programmes for primary care physicians to update their knowledge about important public health issues like hepatitis.
District training package should be in place with the required infrastructure and resources at the disposal of district authorities, quality control of trainings must be ensured by a system of accreditation and certification, he added.
Dr Hafeez said that financial management of district and provincial trainings needed to be streamlined. Referral system also needed further research and strengthening.
He urged that the health facilities should be planned in close vicinity of populations, preferably with in a distance of three kilometres, comprehensive disaster management plans be developed and rehearsed by hospitals, appropriate life support courses be introduced in systematic manner to address the ‘Golden hour of management.’
In his recommendations, Co-chairperson of session on ‘Healthcare quality management’, Dr Faisal Sultan said that the quality of care could be improved with simple yet cost effective strategies and healthcare organizations should adopt Kaizen philosophy as a means to continuously improve quality.
He suggested that various tools to quality improvement such as SERVQAL and suggestion systems should be promoted for better results. A standardized, cost effective and user-friendly medical record system for primary healthcare should be promoted. Still better results could be expected through computerized information system that leads to reduction in errors and effective decision making, Dr Sultan added.
Shaikh Nisar Ahmed, co-chairperson of fourth session on ‘Project management in health services organization’, presenting his recommendations, said that project based environment should be created by planning. We must adopt internationally available project methodologies. There is serious gap between demand and available trained managers, he added.
He stressed that the focus should be on rural population, hospitals must be managed by professionally trained managers. Government processes in projects should be quick like approval of PC-1.
Standardization in healthcare industry should be made. A national uniform policy should be devised and all stakeholders must follow it, he demanded.
Later, Program Director Healthcare System Management CPSP Fawzia Hoodbhoy summarized the recommendations and said as many as 30 papers were presented during the two-day conference.
“The CPSP is planning to publish these recommendations for future reflection and implementation by health managers and policy makers, she added.
Earlier, in his remarks chief guest at the closing ceremony, Sindh Health Secretary Prof Noshad Shaikh appreciated the efforts of the CPSP saying it was contributing 80 per cent share in strengthening healthcare delivery system of country by giving valuable advices.
Everyone should play his rule towards bringing improvement in the existing healthcare system. Government is committed to give good health to people and working for the improvement of public sector institutions, he added.
Meanwhile, CPSP President Prof Sultan Farooqui said that the college was charging only Rs22,000 for a period of 4-5 years, which included examination, assessment of dissertation and registration.
He said that this fee was much less as compared to the tuition fees for MBBS being charged on annual basis by the public sector institutions, which was around Rs64,000.
Moreover, these institution are charging more than Rs200,000 annually in case of self-financing, Prof Farooqui added.—PPI