It would be the first time in Pakistan that a satellite service would be used to monitor the performances of hospital staff in Pakistan. Earlier, doctors used this kind of technology but only to give live consultation to patients.
PHSRP had signed an agreement with Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) to arrange what is called a ‘Geographic Information System’ (GIS) for the live coverage of hospital staff. A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) will be used, which will be able to connect any hospital to the central monitoring room, located in the city. For this project, PHSRP has paid Rs 20 million to the SUPARCO management.
SUPARCO had a Telemedicine display unit connected to Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi where live consultations were offered to patients. Two sites have been connected through the Paksat-1 satellite transponder: one at JPMC and the other at Shikapur civil hospital (interior Sindh).
The former chief minister (CM) of Punjab Ch Pervaiz Elahi had approved this project and had also directed the Punjab Health Department to introduce the concept of monitoring public hospitals across the province through satellite technology. PHSRP Deputy Director Dr Amjad Shahzad told Daily Times that the former CM was annoyed with the reports of doctors’ confrontation with the district monitoring teams and in order to make the monitoring system more transparent and fair, a satellite monitoring system was being introduced. He said it was the third monitoring system being introduced into the health sector. Two previous monitoring systems known as the classical monitoring system and neutral monitoring system had been employed for health officers, but because they could not produce the required results, they were being replaced.
Dr Amjad Shahzad said all healthcare facilities would be linked to the central monitoring system, which would be set up in the head office of PHSRP in Lahore. He said job descriptions of the hospital staff would also be available to the entire public through PHSRP’s website.
Finally, he said they were also introducing Annual Evaluating Reports in place of Annual Confidential Reports and this pilot project was handed over to the Punjab Devolved Social Services Programme.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Muzaffar Ali
Quelle/Source: Daily Times, 09.01.2008
