Peshawar           -        The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has completed all preparedness for extension of Sehat Sahulat Programme to the population and chalked out phase wise extension plan under which in the first phase, the programme will be extended to Chitral, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Malakand, Swat and Shangla by October this year.  

In the second phase, Sehat Sahulat Programme would be extended to Abbottabad, Mansehra, Batagram, Tor Ghar and Kohistan by November 2020 and in the 3rd phase, programme would be extended to Haripur, Swabi, Mardan, Buner, Nowshera, Charsadda and Peshawar by November 2020. Similarly, under the 4th phase of the plan, Sehat Sahulat would be extended to the rest of districts including Kohat, Hangu, Karak, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, D.I.Khan and Tank by the 1st of January 2021.   

Besides, rehabilitation of all BHUs and RHCs across the province and operationalization of 200 BHUs and 50 Rural Health Centers for 24/7 is also in process. 

This was decided in a meeting of health department with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair here on Tuesday. Provincial Minister for Health Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Secretary to CM Shahab Ali Shah, Secretary Health Imtiaz Hussain Shah and others were also present on the occasion.  

The Chief Minister directed all projects with regard to provision of quality medicines, availability of doctors and allied staff, recruitment of doctors in merged areas and provision of standard medical equipments should be completed on priority basis. “Provision of best healthcare facilities to the people is one of the top priority areas of our government for which all available resources are being utilized,” he said. 

The meeting was informed that extension of Sehat Sahulat Programme to newly merged tribal areas had already been completed whereas extension of the programme to the cent percent population of settled districts would also be ensured by the end of this year.  

The meeting was further informed that 1299 medical officers had been recruited whereas recruitment of 100 specialists, 300 medical Officers and 219 emergency medical officers for the merged areas was in progress. Three hospitals had also been established to effectively deal with the pandemic COVID-19 that included Peshawar Institute of Cardiology, Women & Children Hospital Rajjar Charsadda and Pathalogy Center Nishter Abad.  

Moreover, independent monitoring units are being established in the merged areas for which appointment orders of the candidates will be issued by the mid of September this year. Efforts are also underway to ensure all time availability of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health facilities in the newly merged tribal districts. Procurement, transportation and warehousing of medicines, vaccines and disposables for merged areas have been completed.  

Distribution and installation of medical and non medical equipments in the secondary hospitals of the merged areas would also be started by September 2020. It was further informed that 9 nursing schools of the province are being upgraded to nursing colleges for which preparation of PC-I is in progress.