PESHAWAR, Feb 8: The provincial health department has planned to give administrative and financial autonomy to executive district officers (EDOs), health, of four districts on experimental basis with a view to bringing improvement in the health delivery system.
This was stated by NWFP Health Minister Inayatullah Khan in a day-long workshop on “district government workshop for management innovations" organised by the Health Sector Reforms Unit (HSRU) of the health department at the Khyber Medical College on Thursday.
Swabi and Upper Dir district nazims, district coordination officers (DCOs), EDOs, health experts and representatives of donor organisations attended the workshop.
The minister said that the provincial government had devised a plan to delegate full financial and administrative power to the EDOs of two districts of the province. A plan had also been prepared to give autonomous status to two more EDOs in the later stage, he added.
“The outcome of two models will be evaluated,” he said, adding that the government had also decided to give autonomy to three district headquarter hospitals.
Mr Khan said that a plan to grant full autonomy to one of the teaching hospitals of the province was also in the final stage. He said that efforts were under way to utilise non-functioning health outlets under the public-private partnership.
He said that the HSRU had been engaged in reform initiatives for the last few years. He informed the participants that a mechanism was being evolved for social health insurance, public-private partnership and strengthening of the Health Regulatory Authority (HRA).
The minister said that the social health insurance system would be launched next year.
“The HRA will work in an innovative manner to make good utilisation of the private sector,” Mr Khan said. He assured the district governments that they would be taken into confidence for any reform in the health sector.
Health secretary Abdul Samad Khan said that the heath department for the first time had initiated assessment of health indicators at the grass-roots level.
HSRU chief Younis Javed said that efforts were on to improve the healthcare delivery system. He said that a study for quality management was being launched and added that a draft health policy had already been formulated.
Mr Samad told the workshop that despite increased budgetary allocation, the health sector made little progress in improving health services.
Dr Nasir Idrees of the HSRU said that a plan was ready to give the primary healthcare system in two districts to the private sector on contractual basis.