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KP govt plans star ratings for hospitals to help people
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department is awarding star ratings to the public and private sector hospitals and medical colleges and institutes to enable the people to take informed decisions concerning treatment and education.
“Presently, the people don’t know about the available facilities at the healthcare institutes due to which they often make wrong decisions in connection with their treatment,” Dr Umar Ayub, managing director of the KP Health Foundation, told Dawn. Similarly, the students take admission to medical colleges not knowing about their legal status and recognition, he said.
The decision was taken by the health department after its meeting with the Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat) last month. The meeting recommended giving star ratings to the hospitals and medical institutes in the province to facilitate the people, Dr Ayub said.
Commat, an independent organisation, helps the Commonwealth countries in promotion of health, prevention of diseases and the advancement of human rights and medical ethics, particularly for the poor and marginalised groups. It will assist the government in carrying out the exercise after which the government will give grades to the institutions in line with the facilities they would offer.
According to the plan, the Health Foundation experts will visit different hospitals and diagnostic centres and award them stars on the basis of facilities there. He said that the government would publicise for public information the data about the availability of doctors as well as their experience and qualifications at a particular institution.
“The information to be collected during the star rating campaigns in medical teaching and services institutions will be shared with public so that they can make informed choices and decisions,” Dr Ayub elaborated.
The plan is also in line with the Right to Information law already passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, he said. The exercise, likely to take a couple of months, also seeks to acknowledge the contributions made by the teachers and students to the medical profession, he said.
“We would like to take this opportunity to self-reflect and self-appraise on key issues in medical education and delivery of health services. Currently, there is a mushrooming growth of medical education institutes both at undergraduate and postgraduate level and health care services institutions in public and private sectors, which needed to be rectified,” he said.
Dr Ayub said that quantifiable data and case studies had shown increase in the number of institutions and health personnel due to which it was difficult for the patients as well the students to make informed decisions on seeking treatment and taking admissions.
He said that under the programme, the institutions would be made responsible to ensure that there was a mandatory annual faculty development programme with accreditation.
He said that medical curriculum should be based on learning objectives and case studies to keep pace with the advancements taking place around the world.
The health department has also planned to develop career pathway for the doctors so that young medical professionals could choose to pursue a career by design and not by default in academic medicine, health management etc.
He said that the government wanted that all institutions should be led by personnel trained for their jobs. “In this context we have requested for provision of technical expertise and support from the Commat, Higher Education Commission, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Health Regulatory Authority, and College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan,” Dr Ayub said.
The institutions will be marked from one to seven stars that will give an idea about the facilities available in a particular institution.
KP govt plans star ratings for hospitals to help people - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department is awarding star ratings to the public and private sector hospitals and medical colleges and institutes to enable the people to take informed decisions concerning treatment and education.
“Presently, the people don’t know about the available facilities at the healthcare institutes due to which they often make wrong decisions in connection with their treatment,” Dr Umar Ayub, managing director of the KP Health Foundation, told Dawn. Similarly, the students take admission to medical colleges not knowing about their legal status and recognition, he said.
The decision was taken by the health department after its meeting with the Commonwealth Medical Trust (Commat) last month. The meeting recommended giving star ratings to the hospitals and medical institutes in the province to facilitate the people, Dr Ayub said.
Commat, an independent organisation, helps the Commonwealth countries in promotion of health, prevention of diseases and the advancement of human rights and medical ethics, particularly for the poor and marginalised groups. It will assist the government in carrying out the exercise after which the government will give grades to the institutions in line with the facilities they would offer.
According to the plan, the Health Foundation experts will visit different hospitals and diagnostic centres and award them stars on the basis of facilities there. He said that the government would publicise for public information the data about the availability of doctors as well as their experience and qualifications at a particular institution.
“The information to be collected during the star rating campaigns in medical teaching and services institutions will be shared with public so that they can make informed choices and decisions,” Dr Ayub elaborated.
The plan is also in line with the Right to Information law already passed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, he said. The exercise, likely to take a couple of months, also seeks to acknowledge the contributions made by the teachers and students to the medical profession, he said.
“We would like to take this opportunity to self-reflect and self-appraise on key issues in medical education and delivery of health services. Currently, there is a mushrooming growth of medical education institutes both at undergraduate and postgraduate level and health care services institutions in public and private sectors, which needed to be rectified,” he said.
Dr Ayub said that quantifiable data and case studies had shown increase in the number of institutions and health personnel due to which it was difficult for the patients as well the students to make informed decisions on seeking treatment and taking admissions.
He said that under the programme, the institutions would be made responsible to ensure that there was a mandatory annual faculty development programme with accreditation.
He said that medical curriculum should be based on learning objectives and case studies to keep pace with the advancements taking place around the world.
The health department has also planned to develop career pathway for the doctors so that young medical professionals could choose to pursue a career by design and not by default in academic medicine, health management etc.
He said that the government wanted that all institutions should be led by personnel trained for their jobs. “In this context we have requested for provision of technical expertise and support from the Commat, Higher Education Commission, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Health Regulatory Authority, and College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan,” Dr Ayub said.
The institutions will be marked from one to seven stars that will give an idea about the facilities available in a particular institution.
KP govt plans star ratings for hospitals to help people - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
