Islamabad: Federal Health Secretary Capt (retd) Muhammad Mahmood on Thursday started working from a temporary tent office set up on the lawns of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), saying he would remain at the hospital daily to address administrative problems, hear patients’ complaints and improve healthcare services.
Speaking to journalists at his temporary office, Mahmood said fixing PIMS’ administrative problems and facilitating patients were his first priorities and that his presence at the hospital would allow him to directly oversee its affairs.
“I will spend half an hour at the Ministry of Health every day and then sit at the PIMS tent office,” the health secretary said, adding that he would hear complaints from patients, members of the public and the hospital administration and take steps to address them.
Mahmood, who has been given additional responsibility for PIMS following the recent deadly fire at the hospital, said improving governance and addressing administrative shortcomings would remain among his key priorities.
He said efforts would be made to upgrade the hospital’s infrastructure in line with international standards and introduce reforms to improve its governance and overall functioning.
The health secretary said modern technology would also be used to address problems at the hospital, improve administrative oversight and facilitate patients.
Referring to the recent fire incident, Mahmood said a high-powered committee was investigating the tragedy and expressed hope that it would soon determine the cause of the blaze and submit its report to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He expressed grief and condolences to the parents who lost their newborn children in the fire and said measures would be taken to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.
Mahmood said working from within PIMS would help him remain in direct contact with the hospital administration, patients and attendants and enable him to closely monitor efforts to resolve longstanding problems at the federal tertiary-care hospital.