The Khyber Paktunkhwa Government has launched skill development and training programms for nurses to enhance their capacity building and provide better medical facilities to patients in the province.
Under this programme, 450 nurses would be trained free of cost to receive B.Sc Nursing and M.Sc Nursing education over a period of five years costing Rs.700 million, official sources in KP Health Department told APP here Sunday.
For this purpose, an Endowment Fund amounting to Rs. 500 million has been established by the Government to prepare master nurses trainers, he said, adding a good number of nurses will be trained in Shifa International, Islamabad, Aga Khan University Karachi and two post graduate Institutes in Lahore.
M.Sc nursing students will be trained at Aga Khan University Karachi as it is the only institution offering M.Sc nursing in the country.
This program would enhance capacity building as these fully trained individuals would become master trainers, he said, adding these nurses after completion of their studies would be tasked to training local nurses to provide quality medical services to patients coming in large number to Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar and Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar.
He said as per the guidelines of Pakistan Nursing Council, Diploma Courses for nureses would come to an end by year 2015 and we will require B. Sc Nursing and M.Sc Nursing passed students for jobs. The nurses selected on merit have been sent to top nursing institutes of the country and the government was bearing all their education and boarding’lodging expenses, he maintained.
In addition to it, as many as 50 students would be sponsored to undertake training in reputed national institutions for Bachelor degree in Physiotherapy under this programme. He said as per the guidelines of Pakistan Nursing Council, in compliance of the global standards, diploma courses for nurses would come to an end by year 2015.
A seven years health sector strategy has been formed according to which minimum health services delivery package (MHSDP) was developed for primary health care services to provide better facilities to people. The Health Regulatory Authority (HRA) system has been streamlined and its regional offices were established at Abbottabad, Bannu and Malakand, adding the authority would later be extended to others districts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa.
The government will establish Fountain House in Peshawar for rehabilitation of mentally ill patients at cost of Rs 1130.950 million and land for this project has been acquired and work would soon started.
