Syed Ali Shah, Health Desk:Â
QUETTA – In a significant development for Balochistan’s healthcare sector, Health Minister Bakht Muhammad Kakar announced that 164 Basic Health Units (BHUs) across the province will become operational on August 14, marking Pakistan’s Independence Day. These BHUs had remained inactive for years but have now been restored under the provincial government’s revitalization initiative. Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti is scheduled to inaugurate the facilities as part of the province’s healthcare transformation efforts.
Speaking during a session of the Balochistan Assembly, the health minister highlighted the dual-purpose impact of these reforms—enhancing healthcare access and creating job opportunities. He revealed that 1,400 medical officers, from Grade 17 and above, have been promoted and will be deployed to underserved areas to ensure better medical coverage. These appointments are also set to benefit unemployed doctors in the province.
Kakar underscored a key milestone in service transparency, announcing that for the first time in Balochistan’s history, the entire medicine distribution system has been digitized. From the central warehouses down to the patient level, every medicine can now be tracked digitally, ensuring accountability and efficient stock management.
On the clinical front, the health minister shared that over 100 corneal transplant surgeries have been successfully performed, and around 700 patients have been registered for the procedure. He also noted that the long-inactive Cath Lab at Quetta’s Civil Hospital has been made fully functional, where more than 500 cardiac procedures have been completed in the past two months.
Additionally, an MRI machine that had been lying dormant for years has been repaired and reactivated, now serving patients with vital diagnostic services.
Bakht Kakar emphasized that absenteeism among medical staff will no longer be tolerated. The government is taking strict action to ensure that doctors are present not only in major urban centers like Quetta but also in far-flung regions of the province.
The minister reiterated the provincial government’s commitment to delivering quality healthcare and building a more efficient, transparent, and accessible medical system for the people of Balochistan.
