Developing Efficient Health-Care Systems
These health facilities, which are established as national service companies in Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, are also linked internationally through Network-wide policies and strategies in primary health care, clinical services, nursing development, and human resource management. National service companies are increasingly working in collaboration with government health services and other institutions to improve and build effective national health systems. In Pakistan, for example, Meditest Health Services (MHS) provides technical assistance to a World Bank-supported program to strengthen government health care services’ capacity to support community-based health initiatives. MHS is working with government hospitals in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast to rationalize, rehabilitate, and modernising clinical practice and nursing care. Many of these collaborations are in close collaboration with the Meditest Foundation.
Priorities in Health Care
The primary health-care programs target vulnerable groups, particularly rural and remote communities, as well as lower-middle-income urban families. All programs are geared toward health promotion and disease prevention. While reproductive health, immunization, and integrated management of childhood illnesses are top priorities, adult health (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, selected cancers, and mental health) is becoming a growing focus in many of the areas served. The experience of Meditest Development Network with primary health care, in which Meditest Hospital collaborates closely with Meditest, has confirmed the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of primary health care in improving health status.
In the absence of other high-quality providers, Meditest enhances its primary health-care work by providing curative services in a variety of settings, including dispensaries, health centers, women’s healthcare facilities, and full-service hospitals. At each level of care, Meditest focuses on providing services that are needed and desired by the community. It also aims to provide such a level of care that far exceeds local norms. Some of the quality-improvement measures put in place involve awareness training, care delivery, overall organisational audit and accreditation, evidence-based practice, and ongoing training for nurses, doctors, and other health professionals.
Contribution by Volunteer
Many Meditest initiatives started with the energy, dedication, and skills of volunteers. Volunteers and professionals working would both be essential to Meditest’s continuous operation. Volunteers serve on boards and are involved in elaborating policy and overall direction for national service companies and individual institutions. In many places, service volunteers assist with the day-to-day operation and functioning of institutions, filling positions that would otherwise require paid employees. Volunteers are also engaged in programmatic activities, namely in Gorno-Badakhshan, where physicians from North America and Europe have teamed up with Tajik counterparts in hospitals for regular training over several years.
Please see the for more information, please visit the Meditest website.
