KP CAN BECOME A ROLE MODEL IN PREVENTION AGAINST VIOLENCE ON HEALTH CARE WORKERS
To address violence against health care workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the working group of the community of concerns under Health care in Danger initiative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) held its 1st meeting here at Khyber Medical University (KMU) Peshawar. The meeting was hosted by KMU faculty of Public Health & Social Sciences and was attended by senior representatives of Department of Health KP, KMU, Provincial Health Services Academy, Directorate of Health Services Merged Districts, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Director General Health Services KP, Police Department of KP, Rescue 1122, Rehman Medical Institute, North West General Hospital, Khyber Girls Medical College, Institute of Paramedical Sciences and Public Health Association KP. An executive committee has been also formed in the meeting to be chaired by Special Secretary Health Dr. Farooq Jamil and co chaired by Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean Public Health KMU Prof. Dr. Zia ul Haq, where as members of the said committee are Dr. Zia from North West Institute, Alamgir Afridi from Media, members from Police and 1122 departments to over sight the working committee on different themes.
In the meeting all the participants highlighted the importance of strengthening the evidence base through data collection on the reasons of violence against health care workers. The working group discussed the importance of improving the capacity of healthcare workers on incident reporting, domestic legislations, pre-hospital services and hospital security. Addressing the meeting the Special Secretary Health KP Dr. Farooq Jamil appreciated the efforts of the ICRC and KMU for highlighting this very important issue. He said that the Government will provide its support to such initiatives and a Bill “the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Healthcare service providers and facilities (prevention of violence and damage to property) Act has been drafted to address all aspects of violence against healthcare workers. He further added that KP can take a lead role to become a model for the rest of the country in prevention of violence against health care workers.
The Vice Chancellor KMU Professor Dr. Arshad Javed shared his views on the importance of this working group as a central body to formalize different thematic areas under the HCiD initiative of the ICRC. He thanked all the participants for their time and commitment to the cause. He said that such initiatives will improve the prevention of violence against healthcare workers. The Head of Sub Delegation of the ICRC Mr. Patrick Huser in Peshawar said that there is a need of better data collection on this issue and further research and media can play an important role in changing the public opinion.
