Abstract:
Pakistan has a large and dispersed primary public health system, which provides citizens
access to trained doctors and staff, and to subsidized medicines. Despite the existence of
this system, both the use of the facilities and health outcomes remain low. Improvements
in Information Communications Technology (ICT) provide exciting opportunities to
leverage technology to improve management. This paper presents a detailed qualitative
and quantitative look at the institutional context in which such interventions in the
public health sector in Punjab would be trialed in. First, we describe the structure and
management of primary healthcare facilities. Next, we describe selected results from a
survey of a representative sample of Basic Health Units (BHUs), and identify some key
issues. Then, we report officials’ responses to the question of how services might be
improved. Finally, we discuss some of these responses and conclude.
