He made the decision while chairing a meeting of the Health Department here, said a handout         This image shows an Air Ambulance rescue a patient on May 5, 2018. — Facebook/Air Ambulance Pakistan

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has decided to launch an air ambulance service in the province in four months to effectively deal with any health emergency situation.

He made the decision while chairing a meeting of the Health Department here, said a handout.

Health Minister Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Adviser to Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Secretary Health Mehmood Aslam and other officials attended the meeting.

The meeting decided to launch a Motorbike Response Unit for congested areas to ensure timely provision of emergency treatment service to people during emergencies.

It was decided to declare Hayatabad as a Healthcare City to ensure all types of medical treatment facilities to both domestic and foreign patients at the same place.

The meeting gave a go-ahead to the establishment of Health Information and Service Delivery Unit to ensure real time monitoring of service delivery in public sector hospitals.

It was decided to start an Executive Health Checkup Program for senior citizens. Under the proposed program, citizens above the age of 65 will get free quarterly medical checkup facilities including lab tests, CT scan, MRI, Echo, ECG, etc.

Separate staff and desk will be dedicated in the hospitals to facilitate the senior citizens in this regard.

The chief minister directed relevant officials to propose necessary measures to strengthen the primary healthcare system in the province directing them to categorize the Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centres, and ensure availability of at least operation theatre service, gynae service and ultrasound services with required technical staff in these primary healthcare units.

Gandapur directed the Health Department to upgrade all the Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals to empanel them on Sehat Card programme. He directed the department to make the District Headquarters Hospitals state-of-the-art healthcare facilities and ensure round-the-clock provision of quality healthcare services in these hospitals.

The chief minister also directed the quarters concerned to open fair-price pharmacy shops in all the tertiary care and DHQ hospitals of the province. He directed the Health Department to work out all the requirements for strengthening the public sector hospitals across the province within one month’s time so that the required financial resources could be allocated in the upcoming financial budget.

The chief minister directed the officials to finalize a new health policy in one month to revamp the entire health sector along modern lines.