AMRITSAR: The first meeting of the State Health Review Committee was held at Circuit House, Amritsar on Thursday under the chairmanship of Dr. J.S. Bajaj, Vice-Chairman, Punjab State Planning Board. The Committee had been constituted in September 2007 by the Chief Minister Punjab to assess the achievements of the World Bank aided project Punjab Health Systems Corporation.

An official spokesman said that the Committee would conduct an in-depth review of the structural organization and operational framework of the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) and assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the management systems so far established.  It would also conduct site vists to a number of District Hospitals , Sub Divisional Hospitals and Community Health Centres and assess the quality and efficiency of the delivery of healthcare and each of these health stations.  The Committee would also visit the 3 Special Training and Teaching Institutions at Badal, Amritsar and Mohali which are under the management control of PHSC and conduct a short academic review of the physical facilities as well as the process of education.  

The Committee would finally propose requisite remedial measure aimed at optimizing the cost-effective and efficient management of PHSC as well as of hospitals and training institutions under its control and management.  Dr. P.K.Dave, Former Director, AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. Deoki Nandan, Director National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), Sh. Tejveer Singh, Special Secretary Planning and Dr. Sukhdev Singh, Director Health Services, Punjab are members of the Committee attended the meeting.

The Committee was apprised of the background of the World Bank aided project Punjab Health Systems Corporation by Sh. Vipin Sharma of PHSC and the progress made there under.  The Committee discussed and devised a methodology to undertake field visits to different Hospitals and Community Health Centres under the charge of PHSC as well as the  training institutions under its control.  It was decided that a team of researchers from NIHFW, New Delhi would assist the Committee in collection of empirical data from the hospitals and CHCs through proper interview schedules on a random sampling basis.  It was decided to cover 10 District Hospitals, 10 Sub Divisional Hospitals, 11 CHCs , 2 Special Hospitals and all the 3 training Institutions to be selected through random sampling. Due care would be taken that all the three Geographical regions of the State, i.e. Majha, Doaba and Malwa are duly assessed during this exercise.

Bajaj expressed his gratitude to the members for sparing their services for this review work.  He was especially grateful to Dr. Deoki Nandan, Director NIHFW, New Delhi for agreeing to collaborate with the State Government in undertaking this review and dedicating teams of researches for the purpose.  He hoped that with their assistance the committee would be able to complete its task within the given time period of four months and present its report to the State Government.