PESHAWAR: The health department has planned to merge the Health Sector Reforms Unit and Independent Monitoring Unit to “ensure evidence-based approach for policy-making and make recommendations for its implementation on health-related issues”in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, say officials.

They told Dawn that a concept paper for the initiative was being developed for approval by the health minister that was likely to come next week.

Officials said that the HSRU was established in 2003 to carry out research on the province’s health matters backed by statistics and formulate policies to improve patient care, while the IMU was set up in 2016 to monitor health facilities and point out missing facilities, including manpower, medical supplies, equipment and toilets.

They said that the health secretariat had recommended a combined structure for both units provided with data and insights to devise policies and implement them for improving patient care in the province.

Concept paper to be put up to minister next week for consent

The officials said that it had been realised making these units into one was needed because it would strengthen policy-making, implementation, health economics, human resources and other aspects of the department.

They said the IMU had all data of health facilities and the HSRU that of the policy-making and coordination with the centre and donor agencies about healthcare in the province.

The officials said that the proposed Health Sector Reform and Monitoring Unit (HSRMU) would suggest broad-based policies to the government and recommend implementation.

They said that a BPS-20 doctor from the administrative cadre would head the unit, which was to operate as an advisory body driven by scientific researches to develop policies for the provision of better care to patients in line with the deficiencies to be recorded by current IMU staff members, who were set to become part of the proposed entity.

The officials said that the IMU inspected public sector health facilities and prepared monthly and quarterly reports about missing facilities.

They said that the proposed HSRMU would be responsible for the overall leadership, supervision, management, and monitoring affairs to achieve the objectives.

According to officials, the health department wants to come up with innovative healthcare measures as suggested by the proposed body.

They said that the HSRMU would lead, supervise and contribute in all technical areas ranging from identification of policy issues to guiding towards drafting of policy documents in the areas identified in project documents and would convene and direct technical meetings as required.

The officials also said that the unit would play the overall leadership and supervisory roles besides performing communication functions in addition to scrutinising the quality of reports for accuracy and present the monthly and quarterly progress reports to the health secretary and minister as well as the chief minister.

They said that the HSRMU would examine matters relating to policy and strategic planning and advice on policy, strategy frameworks and health systems at provincial and district levels, and would plan, manage and implement the overall procurement strategy for the health department.

The officials said that the proposed body would prepare a policy implementation roadmap and monitor progress of all policy changes and human resource strategy for the department, including standardisation of recruitment process and term of reference of all personnel.

They also said that the HSRMU would have the services of primary and secondary healthcare specialists to give technical support on designing and implementation of primary and secondary healthcare reforms, and get the services of infrastructure specialists for infrastructure revamp strategy, oversee implementation and budget utilisation.

The officials said that the proposed unit would have broader responsibilities which included legal drafting for reviewing contracts besides carrying out economic evaluation of health interventions, formulating recommendations, and liaising with partner organisations for implementation.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2022