Azra Pechuho reviews essential services

KARACHI: The Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare, Azra Fazal Pechuho, convened a meeting titled Review of Essential Services at Primary Care Facilities of the Health Department.

The discussion was held with Acacus, an international organization that collaborates with governments to improve health and education, Special Secretary Health, and DHOs who participated online.

Before this, Azra Pechuho had authorized a set of primary care reforms for the province that included: improving the functionality of health facilities by establishing an independent and real-time monitoring system to collect data and use it to enhance the functionality of health facilities.

Improving access to healthcare through modernizing Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) facilities to provide care 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and integrating them into the emergency referral system.

Increasing vaccine and inoculation coverage ensures that children are protected against life-threatening and preventable diseases.

On September 19, per the instructions of Azra Fazal Pechuho, a Monitoring Unit was established. Over a thousand sites have been independently monitored, and the remainder will be completed by November's end.

Azra stated that this monitoring system was for basic emergency obstetric and newborn care, but a more comprehensive one should include a referral system so that if a clinic cannot accommodate an ob/GYN patient, they can refer and transfer them via ambulance to the nearest institution that can.

Each facility registered in the system will be monitored once a month, and there will also be unannounced visits to analyze daily operations.

As a result of the collaboration between Acacus and the Sindh Health Department, 11 labour rooms are already operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and there will be 61 labour rooms throughout the province by February of next year. These labour rooms shall operate under the BEmONC requirements, and all DHOs are instructed to secure the procurement of necessary supplies by November 25, 2022.