Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has announced an outright ban on mobile phones inside hospitals for doctors and nurses on duty at all public hospitals across Punjab.
The new measure is said to be aimed at ending the rampant culture of dilly-dallying in the public healthcare sector of Punjab.
The CM’s office, through an official notification, has directed all hospital administrations to strictly enforce the mobile phones inside hospitals for doctors and nurses at duty.
The Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act will be implemented in cases of repeated offences, with the dismissal of defaulting officers and staff members also being on the table.
Senior hospital administrators have been tasked with leading the change and ensuring that medical personnel are free from distractions during duty hours, especially while attending the emergency ward and doing ward rounds. The officials further said that mobile phone usage in the workplace often led to a lack of focus and that the change will help improve the environment in public hospitals, ensuring doctors and nurses give undivided attention to their patients.
“The provincial government has directed all public sector hospitals to implement this change with immediate effect,” the notification further said.
The notification also orders the setting up of “Maryam Nawaz Complaint Counters” in the hospitals, in order to make the grievance submission process easier for the common people.
The move has received a positive response from various corners of society with patients’ rights activists hailing the decision as a much needed one, which will not only end misuse of official time but will also improve the service delivery to the patients. On the other hand, some civil society members also raised their concerns on what they said would be the increased difficulty in reaching out to healthcare staff in cases of medical emergencies, unless the government also found some alternate secure channels of communications.
“The Punjab Chief Minister’s Office has given an assurance that hospitals will be establishing internal communication systems – such as pager – to receive messages and receive calls to ensure prompt response to any important call,” a government spokesperson said in this regard.
The ban has been brought at a time when Punjab Government is already struggling with public trust on health services. The decision can be seen as yet another step to regain the lost public trust
