KP CM for plan to improve quality of healthcare facilities

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur on Wednesday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare Commission (KPHC) to devise and implement a comprehensive plan to improve the quality of healthcare facilities across the province.

He was speaking at a meeting of the KPHC and Directorate of Drug Control and Pharmacy Services here. The meeting reviewed the performance, objectives, challenges, and future strategies of the above-mentioned subordinate offices of the health department.

He emphasised conducting clinical and surgical audits of healthcare centres, registering unregistered facilities and working on a timeline-based plan with regular progress reviews.

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

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

During the meeting, CEO Healthcare Commission briefed participants about the overall performance of authority and informed that over 18,911 healthcare centres have been registered, with an online portal introduced for an easier registration process.

He said that geo-tagging of 38,443 centres has been completed, and assessments of 159 centres for licensing were underway. It was told that in the last 2.5 years, 10,085 inspections were conducted, notices were issued to 2,606 facilities, and 2,062 were sealed due to violations, whereas 2839 complaints out of 3006 received were resolved during the period.

It was further told that actions were initiated against 1,523 cases of quackery, resulting in fines for 1,189 facilities and the sealing of 763 centres.