Response to health emergencies to be institutionalized
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Secretary Health Khushnood Akhtar Lashari on Friday stressed the need for an institutional arrangement to effectivelyrespond to any kind of health emergency.
He said while chairing a meeting which was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Health, focal persons of accident and emergency departmentsof major federal government hospitals, and World Health Organization representatives.
The meeting discussed establishing a Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Centre that will be based in federal capital and will have linkages with all the stakeholders including the provincial and district governments, donors, the media and community.
He said that HEPR is being created that will be a dedicated organization with a mandate to work on building the capacities of federal, provincial and district governments to deal with health emergency.
Secretary Health directed that HEPR should set standards, issue guidelines, and manage stock-piles of emergency medicines. The Centre will also develop an information system that will do the hazards mapping of the entire country and will facilitate the flow of information to the media and general public.
Lashari announced that Ministry of Health will establish an emergency fund that will be utilized for preparing the country to respond to health emergencies.
He directed all federal government hospitals to effectively manage futurehealth emergencies. He also appreciated the response of accident and emergency departments of the federal government hospitals in recent incidents of violence and terrorists attacks.
Dr. Jehanzeb Aurakzai, Secretary, HEPR gave a presentation on the overall functioning of the proposed HEPR Centre. He said the Centre will contribute to the national, regional and global efforts to include disaster reduction and management efforts into sustainable development programs from the health sector perspective and will develop a system and capacities for efficient emergency response.
He informed that about 50 district health managers will be trained in emergency management while the health workforce at all health facilities will be trained in Primary Trauma Care.