PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has directed Healthcare Commission to devise and implement a comprehensive plan to improve the quality of health facilities across the province.

He stressed the need for conducting clinical and surgical audits of healthcare centres, registering unregistered facilities and working on a timeline-based plan with regular progress reviews, said a press release here on Wednesday.

It said that a meeting of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Commission and Directorate of Drug Control and Pharmacy Services was held with chief minister in the chair to review performance, objectives, challenges and future strategies of the subordinate offices of health department.

The meeting was attended by Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Ihtisham Ali, Health Secretary Adeel Shah, Director General Health Services Dr Mohammad Saleem Khan, Director General Drug Control Dr Abbas, and Healthcare Commission chief Dr Nadeem Akhtar.

Meeting reviews performance of Healthcare Commission and Directorate of Drug Control and Pharmacy Services

The chief minister instructed the commission to address the issue of staff shortage by hiring necessary personnel and taking strict action against the facilities providing substandard medical services to people.

Directorate of Drug Control was directed to establish at least one mobile drug testing laboratory in each divisional headquarters and fill vacant positions of pharmacists in all government hospitals.

The meeting was informed that more than 18,911 healthcare centres were registered with the commission and an online portal was introduced for easy registration. Geo-tagging of 38,443 centres has been completed and assessment of 159 health facilities for licensing was under way.

During the last two years and six months, 10,085 inspections were conducted, notices were issued to 2,606 facilities, and 2,062 were sealed for violations, while 2,839 of 3,006 complaints were resolved during that period.

The meeting was told action was initiated against 1,523 cases of quackery, resulting in fining 1,189 facilities and sealing 763 centres. Similarly, training was imparted to the staff of 835 public and private hospitals.

It was said that 13,928 pharmacies were inspected and 1,977 drug stocks were seized. Of 8,493 samples taken for quality testing, 992 were found substandard, and 211 spurious. About 234 pharmacies were sealed, 107 FIRs were filed and drug court imposed penalties amounting to Rs8.59 million, alongside imprisonment sentences.

PSDP: The chairman of Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission, retired Brigadier Muzaffar Ranjha, here on Wednesday assured chief minister of completing all the ongoing projects under federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in the province.

According to a statement, he told Mr Gandapur during a meeting that the projects were launched for public welfare and would be prioritised for completion. It said that the meeting agreed to expedite pace of work on development projects to ensure their timely completion.

The meeting discussed Chitral-Shandur Road, Peshawar Northern Bypass, Chashma Right Bank Canal, Hangu Road and other key projects.

The chief minister said that completion of projects initiated in KP under federal PSDP was crucial as they were significant for public welfare.

He said that provincial government would fulfil its responsibilities to ensure their timely completion. He underlined the importance of CRBC Lift Canal project, saying it was not only vital for the province but also essential for the country’s food security.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2024