PHCs performance in 2018.

Byline: Durdana Najam

The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has been established through the promulgation of the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act 2010 as a premier regulatory body to improve the quality of healthcare services in Punjab, including alternate and traditional methods of treatments such as Homeopathy and Tibb. The Commission is also legally bound to eliminate quackery in all its forms and manifestation. Invested with diverse regulatory role, the Commission has also been responsible to do advocacy for the propagation of best health practices. Since its inspection the Commission has been creating awareness among health experts and other stakeholders including patients, about health related issues, such as dengue, quackery, seasonal influenza and smog. To perform all these functions, the Commission has setup six directorates and an Anti-Quackery cell beside other departments.

It is pertinent to note that in 2015 the Commission had undertaken the humongous task of mapping the Healthcare Establishments (HCE) in Punjab. The services of Urban Unit Punjab were hired to collect the data, which was used only after complete validation by the PHC. The information about the locations of the HCEs resulted in twin benefits. One, the process of registration picked up, bringing more HCEs in the ambit of law per se. Secondly, it helped sift quacks from professionally qualified healthcare service providers.

With quality being at the centre of the PHC's vision, it became imperative to seek international recognition, which could not have been possible without going through the extensive and tedious process of streamlining and documenting the Commission's processes. It was here that the untiring efforts of the Directorate of Quality Assurance bore fruits in 2018, in the form of ISO-9001 Certification, for having installed quality management system. This gamut of recognition for quality also included alliances with international organisations working on quality and accreditation in the health sector, such as International Association of Medical Regulatory Authority.

The outgoing year has been challenging for the Commission in that it focused all its attention to the elimination of quackery from Punjab. The anti-quackery drive found new vigor when the Honourable Supreme Court took the suo motu notice and made the Commission a lead agency against quackery. The entire administrative machinery of the government of Punjab was asked to fully facilitate the...