RAWALPINDI: As many as seven basic health units (BHU) in the Rawalpindi district have been outsourced by the Punjab government for one year to `improve` the provision of healthcare facilities, with privatisation to take effect from February 1.

Out of tota198 BHUs in the district, eight have been outsourced and rebranded as the `Maryam Nawaz Clinic`. These clinics will provide free treatment for fever and flu among other diseases, as well as provide gynaecology f acilities.

The provincial government will pay for the private doctors.

The BHUs that were outsourced include Buchial, Jand Mehlu, Kolian Hameed, Mankiala Brehmana, Rantora, Dakhali, and Kuri Dalal.

About five of these will run during regular hours, 8:00am to 2:00pm, and Dakhali and Kuri Dalal units will provide services round-the-clock.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that the provincial government would pay a maximum of Rs800,000 to the doctor torunthehealthunit.

He said the government asked the administration to select those BHUs which were located on main roads and in densely populated areas, adding that the District Health Authority had sent a list to the Punjab Primaryand Secondary Healthcare Department of the selected BHUs.

He said the department had invited doctors to run BHUs in December and finalised the list of private doctors who had been selected after the interviews in January`s first week. `A total of 150 BHUs in Punjab have been outsourced, including seven in Rawalpindi District,` he said.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Asif Arbab Niazi told Dawn each BHU will have one medical practitioner having an MBBS degree, besides a dispenser, a lady health visitor, and some other staffers. He said the doctor would provide medicines and laboratory tests free of charge.

About the salary of the BHU staff, he said that the provincial government will pay Rs400 for each patient and Rs5,000-Rs6,000 for every delivery.

He said the doctor would be responsible for providing medicine to the patient from the approved companies.

In reply to a question, he said that each patient who will arrive at the clinic will be registered through their computerised national identity card and telephone number in the mobile app connected to the provincial government department. The government will monitor the data of the patients and will pay the bill to the doctor accordingly, he added.

`The District Health Authority will also monitor...and send a report on a weekly and monthly basis,` he said, adding that the outsourced BHUs will also play a part in the government drives, like anti-polio campaigns. He said that the basic aim of outsourcing was to improve the healthcare system. `It is a pilot project which will run for a year, and expand if it`s successful,` he said.