PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Thursday chaired a meeting of the Health Department and directed authorities to accelerate work on ongoing health sector reforms, emphasising the need for a comprehensive and long-term strategy instead of short-term, reactive measures.
The chief minister said unnecessary referrals from primary and secondary healthcare facilities were creating difficulties for patients and placing additional pressure on major hospitals. He instructed officials to discourage avoidable referrals, establish clear justification mechanisms for unavoidable cases, and introduce a centralised bed management system to improve patient flow.
CM Afridi directed that work on revamping primary and secondary hospitals be expedited to reduce the burden on tertiary care hospitals. He also asked the Health Department to present practical proposals for increasing the number of beds, including ICU capacity, in Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) hospitals.
Highlighting the importance of pediatric healthcare, the chief minister ordered special focus on children’s services and directed that adequate budget allocations be ensured under the Sehat Card programme for pediatric treatment. He also instructed authorities to finalise, at the earliest, the inclusion of private hospitals in the Sehat Card scheme along with burden-sharing mechanisms and relevant rules and regulations.
The chief minister further directed that hostels be arranged near hospitals to facilitate doctors and medical staff. He stressed the need for hospitals to upgrade their systems, saying test results should not be delayed due to technical issues such as link failures.
CM Afridi also called for the establishment of a common, regularly updated dashboard for major hospitals to monitor performance and service delivery. He said that health and education were directly linked to public welfare and required special attention.
Reiterating the government’s commitment, the chief minister said public health was the top priority and assured that a lack of resources would not be allowed to hinder improvements. He directed the Health Department to take all possible steps for the improvement of hospitals and to submit long-term, workable proposals.
