Healthcare Revolution in Pakistan
Healthcare is a leading industry in Pakistan instead of being called as service. Since long time, no such policy was introduced by the government until 2010. Taking an initiative by then Chief Minister of Punjab Mr. Shahbaz Shareef, Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) was formed.The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC)PHC is an autonomous health regulatory body established under the PHC Act 2010. The PHC aims to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare service delivery for all Public and Private Healthcare Establishments (HCEs) including Allopaths, Homeopaths and Tibbs in the province of Punjab.The PHC is responsible for developing and enforcing Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS) at all levels of healthcare, to improve the quality of healthcare services and foster a culture of Clinical Governance. All Healthcare Establishments are required to implement MSDS to acquire a License to deliver healthcare services in Punjab.Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS)The MSDS define a set of the benchmarks for minimum level of mandatory services that a Healthcare Establishment (HCE) is responsible to do and patients have a right to expect. It entails a package of yardsticks essential for all types and Categories of the Healthcare Establishments and encompasses all the disciplines of healthcare and focuses on ensuring Quality Healthcare Services.The standards prescribed in the MSDS cover the following functional areas for assuring quality healthcare services delivery:
Access, Assessment and Continuity of Care (AAC)
Care of Patients (COP)
Management of Medication (MOM)
Patient Rights and Education (PRE)
Hospital Infection Control (HIC)
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
Responsibilities of Management (ROM)
Facility Management and Safety (FMS)
Human Resource Management (HRM)
Information Management System (IMS)
Healthcare Information Management System (HIMS)HIMs is an information management system applied to automate healthcare establishments (HCE). It is the practice of acquiring, analyzing and protecting digital and traditional medical information vital to providing quality patient care. With the widespread computerization of health records, traditional (paper-based) records are being replaced with electronic health records (EHRs). The tools of health informatics and health information technology are continually improving to bring greater efficiency to information management in the health care sector.HIMS Initiative In PakistanWith the increasing pressure from global organizations, including USAID and WHO, about the accuracy of healthcare data in Pakistan, Softech Systems Private Limited (a renowned and leading software solutions developing company in Pakistan) has been given a mandate by Government of Punjab (GoP) to automate healthcare establishments in Punjab.Softech Systems’ HIMSDeveloped under the years of collaboration between top healthcare professionals and software development experts at Softech Systems, HealthConnect has become widely accepted Healthcare Information Management System and hospital management solution across the country due to its flexibility, scalability and quality user experience.HealthConnect caters for the full life-cycle of the processes in a modern hospital, incorporating comprehensive work flows for complex processes of a healthcare facility including patient registration, queue management, OPD, IPD, medical record management, pharmacy, blood bank, Waste management, Radiology, pathology and other departments of a hospital.HIMS Deployment in PunjabIn the year 2016, Government of Punjab decided to implement HIMS in public sector healthcare establishments across Punjab with fully integrated end-to-end solution. In this regard, Softech Systems won the tender in open bidding and started deploying their in-house developed HIMS named as HealthConnect. Softech System has the mandate to deploy HIMS in 35 public healthcare establishments across the province including 15 THQs and 20 DHQs. By now in 2018, this HIMS has been successfully deployed in 25 hospitals out which 8 are THQs and 17 are DHQs.However, GOP initiative is not the only HIMS deployment that Softech has done. Kulsoom International Hospital ( KIH ) Islamabad was the pilot project and has been a great success. Softech’s HIMS solution is also live at first ever Hepatitis Prevention and Treatment Clinic (HPTC) of Pakistan Kidney & Liver Institute and Research Center Lahore ( PKLI ).