LAHORE(National Times)- The Punjab government has initiated multiple major steps at public-sector hospitals across the province to prevent a recurrence of the incident that clai\u00admed the lives of 14 infants at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department on Sunday asked Emergency Services Department (ESD) Pu\u00adn\u00ad\u00adjab Secretary Rizwan Naseer to dep\u00adloy Rescue 1122 officials at all government teaching hospitals across the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through an official letter, the health secretary apprised the ESD head that it had been decided to engage the services of Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 to establish a uniform and standard emergency response mechanism and strengthen emergency preparedness, response and coordination at tertiary-care hospitals across Punjab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the main objective of the initiative was to establish a robust, integrated and uniform emergency response system with clearly defined roles, a command structure and escalation mechanisms across all tertiary-care hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEmergency officers will be responsible for standardising and monitoring emergency response protocols,\u201d the letter stated, adding that the officers would coordinate with hospital emergency, security, fire-safety and other relevant teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They would also be responsible for conducting regular inspections of emergency exits, fire extinguishers and life-safety arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The health secretary also sought the names, designations and contact details of the officers to be app\u00adointed at the hospitals to discharge the assigned responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technical Working Group<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separately, the Punjab government has constituted an 11-member Technical Working Group (TWG), comprising senior medical teachers and doctors, to review and prepare Standard Operating Proce\u00addures (SOPs) for nursery and neonatology setups at all public-sector teaching hospitals in the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A notification in this regard was issued, appointing University of Child Health Sciences Lahore Vice Chancellor Prof Masood Sadiq as its convener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to its terms of reference, the committee shall develop clinical admission and discharge criteria to optimise utilisation and load management; establish formal step-down and shared-care pathways with peripheral hospitals to divert stable neonates for efficient utilisation of available resources; and guide hospitals on infrastructure requirements relating to fire hazards, electrical-load risks and evacuation challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, the committee shall draft comprehensive SOPs for fire safety, evacuation, firefighting and electrical-load management tailored to neonatal settings; design training modules for doctors, nurses and support staff on evacuation drills, neonatal handling and basic firefighting; and develop checklists and audit tools for regular compliance monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The committee has been directed to submit its recommendations to the competent authority within seven days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE(National Times)- The Punjab government has initiated multiple major steps at public-sector hospitals across the province to prevent a recurrence of the incident that clai\u00admed the lives of 14 infants at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad. The Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department on Sunday asked Emergency Services Department (ESD) Pu\u00adn\u00ad\u00adjab Secretary Rizwan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n