Health Dept, AKHSP reach agreement on partnership

Chitral -- The Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan (AKHS,P) has reached an agreement with the Department of Health Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to provide quality health care services to the community at RHC Mastuj District Chitral.

A ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) signing ceremony was held on November 5, 2011 at Health Secretariat Peshawar. Mr Rahamtullah Khan Wazir DCO Chitral and Dr Rashida Ahmed Chairperson Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan signed MoU in the presence of Mr. Munir Azam Secretary Health Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Mr. Salim Khan Minister for Population Welfare Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Sher Qayyum Khan EDO(H) Chitral; Dr. Shabina Raza Chief Health Sector Reform Unit, Dr. Imtiaz Ali Shah; Mr. Afsar Ali EDO Finance Chitral, Dr Qayyum Noorani Program Manager Health Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan; Mr. Sadiq Alwani Chief Financial Officer AKHS,P; Dr Rozina Mistry Director Community Health AKHS,P; Dr Zafar Ahmed General Manager AKHS,P Chitral, Mr. Amir Afzal, Dr. Ali Murad, Mr. Sikander ul Mulk Chairman RHC Health Committee and Mr. Rahimullah was also present on the occasion

In early sixties the Department of Health of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (DoH) constructed RHC in village Mastuj, Tehsil Mastuj, District Chitral for providing standard health care services, including essential primary care and emergency obstetric and neonatal care to clients referred from primary care facilities located in the Mastuj tehsil with a population of 50,000.

AKHS,P first time started PPP with Department of Health (DoH) Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa at RHC Shagram in 2008. The PPP approach showed encouraging result and as a result of this successful experience the DoH suggested AKHS,P to extend the partnership in some other health facilities of Chitral such as RHC Mastuj, in order to provide quality health care services to the community.

Due to non-availability of female health care providers, the RHC Mastuj could not be functionalized completely, especially the Maternal & Child Health services.

Under the new arrangement, the Government has handover management of the existing infrastructure and budget allocated for the RHC Mastuj to AKHS,P. AKHS,P is responsible for provision of quality health care services to the local community including maternal and child health services; to ensure participation of local community in decision making by a health committee at facility level to guarantee linkages between the community and the health facility as well as to make certain the protection of health rights of the local community. The partnership will be useful for the local community in terms of: better use of resources; to improve access to essential services by the community; to prevent maternal and child deaths due to delays in accessing care; to reduce unjustified referrals; to reduce the cost of hiring transport and taking a day-long journey to reach Booni Medical Center and the DHQ Hospital Chitral.  -- CN report, 11 Nov 2011.

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