Ninth Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy Human Capital Development for Sustained Economic Growth/ Using Information Communication Technology (ICT) to improve health worker performance in Punjab, Pakistan: Opportunity & Alternatives

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.