PHC to be fully independent body

The Punjab government has no intention to take over private health care establishments and the basic objective behind setting up of Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) is to ensure an independent regulatory mechanism to get an efficient health care system for the ultimate benefit of public at large.
"Over 70 percent of Punjab population use private health care facilities and the share of public sector in service delivery had gone down over the years," Secretary Health Punjab Fawad Hassan Fawad said while addressing a consultative stakeholders' workshop on the establishment of Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) held at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Monday.
The workshop was organised by the Punjab Health Department in collaboration with the Technical Assistance Management Agency (TAMA) funded by the Department for International Development, United Kingdom.
Professor Malik Hussain Mubbashar, Vice Chancellor University of Health Sciences Lahore, Professor Asad Aslam Khan, Vice-Chancellor King Edward Medical University Lahore, Dr Faisal Sultan, Chief Executive Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Dr Inam ul Haq, Senior Health Specialist in the World Bank, Dr Amjad Saqib, Executive Director of Akhuwat, Dr Akhtar Rashid, General Secretary Pakistan Medical Association, Dr Asad Ashraf MPA, Professor Dr Aamir Aziz and Waseem Mukhtar Special Secretary Health also spoke on the occasion. A large number of health professionals and representatives of civil society attended the workshop.
Addressing the workshop, the health secretary said that Punjab Healthcare Commission shall be an independent and separate entity, completely free of external influence by the government or other channels. "We will appoint chairman of the commission and separate commissioners, who would be non-controversial and professionals of the highest integrity", he said, adding, "The PHC would neither recruit serving or retired officers nor had any direct operational link with the government to make it completely free of political influence."
He said the Punjab Healthcare Commission would not go into punitive mode right away rather it would point out deficiencies and give sufficient time, keeping in view the ground realities, for ensuring provision of required facilities and staff in public and private health care facilities to curb illegal and unethical practices in medical profession and to ensure effective delivery of health care services to patients.
He maintained that the biggest issue in the establishment of PHC was the appointment of appropriate human resource to operate it. "This cannot be done without consultation with all stakeholders, especially those from private sector," he said, adding, "The government was looking for those people who would come in a transparent manner and run this commission independently and effectively."
Parliamentary Secretary Health Punjab, Dr Saeed Elahi said that merit was the top priority of the Punjab chief minister and also assured the participants of the workshop that the commission would be formed in a transparent manner after consultation with all the stakeholders. He categorically said that no retired bureaucrat would be engaged and the commission would fully act as a true professional body.
Team leader and TAMA's Institutional Developed Expert, Howard Lyons said that success of the commission depended on three factors namely leadership, accountability and teamwork. He said that medical negligence was a major issue all over the world. "Nearly 200,000 people die every year in USA from medical errors. In fact, in United States, hospital infections kill more people each year than AIDS, breast cancer and car accidents," he said, adding, "Such figures were not available in Pakistan due to lack of proper health information system."
He further said that the PHC would be a standard setting and quality assurance body, including regulation, for the whole health sector. "The commission will do this mainly through standardization, quality assurance, institutional development and the establishment of a system of accreditation and capacity building for continuous professional development", he said.
TAMA's International Clinical Governance Expert, Dr Carol Barker told the participants of the workshop that a number of activities were already taking place in the health care facilities in Punjab including clinical audits.
The workshop was structured around a combination of plenary sessions and breakout groups. The basic objective was to identify key issues and challenges involved in the establishment and operationalisation of the Punjab Health Commission. It involved consultation with the stakeholders and healthcare professionals to ensure the most effective ways of ensuring registration and licensing of all healthcare providers and to discuss the best possible way to set, implement and maintain Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS) in both public and private hospitals.
The key area which came under focus included registration of healthcare providers, licensing of healthcare establishments, implementation of standards, third party audit, accreditation, investigation of medical negligence and elimination of quackery.