LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has initiated the process of finalising guidelines for hospital emergency departments and a committee has been constituted to complete the consultation process and submit recommendations within a fortnight.

A consultation meeting was held here on Thursday with Punjab Healthcare Commission Chief Executive Officer DrMuhammad Saqib Aziz in the chair. College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan President Prof Shoaib Shafi, senior vicepresident Prof Khalid Masood Gondal, Dean Academics Prof Ghulam Mustafa Arain and Director Licensing and Accreditation PHC Dr Muhammad Anwar Janjua were also present besides emergency medicine experts from the specialised public and private sector hospitals.

Dr Aziz highlighted the importance of proper man-agement of emergencies in the `golden hour` to save lives. He emphasised the need to train doctors, nurses and paramedics in emergency medicine and life-saving skills.

He also underlined the need for inculcating professionalism, ethical practices and character-building in the medical graduates.

`Due to high-level of stress and fear of aggression by the relatives of the critically ill patients, the emergency staff must be properly skilled and pro-vided a safe working environment and rewarding service structure,` he added.

Director Clinical Governance Dr Mushtaq Ahmed Salariya presented key features of the draft guidelines and invited inputs.

Upon completion of the consultation, Dr Saqib Aziz constituted a committee comprising emergency experts which would complete consultation and submit its recommendations to the PHC within 15 days.