Punjab Launches Health Connect Program

LAHORE: Government of Punjab has started the program known as Punjab Health Connect Program, which is a health care program, and under it, overseas Pakistani and other foreign specialists and surgeons will be brought to the hospitals of Punjab and their patients will be treated by them while training the local doctors in medical practices. The Punjab Health Connect Program of foreign specialists was initiated as per the instructions of Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif.

It tackles two of the key problems faced by Punjab's healthcare system at once – lack of specialists in public hospitals and difference in skills between locally trained personnel and their international counterparts.

Programme Activities – Two in One

The dual system is what makes the Punjab Health Connect Program’s foreign specialists’ project different from an ordinary visiting doctor project. The international specialists do not come only for patient treatment and then leave; rather, they also share their skills and clinical methods with local doctors while carrying out their activities. Each operation turns into a learning process and each clinic helps build up the capacity of the doctors of Punjab.

Dealing With the Shortage of Specialists in Punjab

The Punjab Health Connect Program foreign specialists program is a solution to an ongoing problem within the Pakistan public health sector, which dates back many decades and which involves a lack of specialist doctors within the country's public hospitals.

"The Health Connect initiative will assist in tackling the lack of specialists in the province's hospitals by allowing the local health workers to take advantage of the expertise of international professionals."
Government of Punjab

However, there is a clear tendency of pulling of specialist doctors of Pakistan towards private practice, city areas, and abroad. There is a need to bring international specialists into the picture for short term until the long-term solutions arrive in the form of development of more Pakistani specialists. The Punjab Health Connect Program foreign specialists model is an example of addressing the immediate problem in this regard.

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Vision of CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif for Healthcare in Punjab Province

The Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif highlighted the vision for Punjab health care system modernization at the time of foreign doctors' launch for Punjab Health Connect Program:

"Government will provide world standard healthcare in public hospitals. Steps have been initiated to make our healthcare system world class."
CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif

This framing of the international standards is critical. The public hospitals in Pakistan have always been working below the standard of healthcare which is available to the people who belong to wealthier families through the private healthcare system in the country.

Overseas Pakistani Factor

The inclusion of overseas Pakistani specialists along with other foreign doctors in the context of Punjab Health Connect Program foreign specialists framework holds a special importance. The Pakistani diaspora consists of thousands of very skilled medical practitioners who practice medicine in UK, US, Canada, Australia, Gulf countries, and other European nations; many of whom have strong personal and professional links with the Pakistani healthcare sector.

Expectations of Patients in Punjab’s Public Hospitals

The patients in the public hospitals in Punjab who seek specialized medical services that would require them to incur more financial costs than what they can afford when seeking the same service privately would find it easy to get access to such experts through the program. The patients in the public hospitals would have access to cardiac surgeons, neurologists, oncologists, orthopedic specialists, among others.

The success of this program will be judged by the success of the patients the number of patients seen, diagnoses made, procedures done, and local physicians trained due to the presence of visiting specialists. The public hospitals in Punjab have enough patient volume to make this program meaningful. If the program implementation framework can live up to the expectations set out by the foreign specialists of the Punjab Health Connect Program, then this program will truly change lives.