KP healthcare services are being reshaped by public-private partnerships (PPP) between the Medical Emergency Resilience Foundation (MERF) and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Foundation (KPHF), according to MERF's provincial manager, Dr. Abdul Basit. The arrangement, which MERF calls the PPP for Health model, is meant to widen access to affordable care, add specialist services and raise the quality of care in public hospitals across the province.
A public-private partnership is a formal arrangement in which a government and a private or non-government partner share the work of running a public service. In KP, MERF works with the provincial government and KPHF to oversee a number of public healthcare institutions under this model.
Wana hospital shows the change
DHQ Hospital Wana in South Waziristan is the main example MERF gives. MERF took over its management in 2022, and the hospital's performance score rose from 37 percent to between 80 and 84 percent over several quarters, according to the Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU), the monitoring body of the KP government. That places the hospital among the most improved secondary healthcare facilities in the province.
The hospital now sees an average of 780 patients a day. It offers specialist consultations, emergency care, dialysis, surgical procedures, laboratory diagnostics and inpatient services. Fourteen specialist consultants cover 11 medical disciplines, and specialists handle 93 percent of outpatient department (OPD) consultations. Basit said recruitment is under way to fill the remaining vacancies in a few specialised disciplines.
Other hospitals in the model
DHQ Hospital Mishti Mela in Orakzai is another facility MERF manages with the provincial government and KPHF. Basit said it has remained among the top-ranked secondary facilities in KP in IMU assessments for several consecutive years, despite operating in a geographically challenging district.
Government General Hospital (GGH) Nishterabad in Peshawar is cited as another example. MERF says it has helped ease the load on tertiary-care hospitals, which are the larger referral centres, and has brought affordable services closer to urban communities. The hospital now serves thousands of patients through expanded outpatient, emergency and specialist services.
What happens next
Basit said the PPP model has shown how collaboration between the public and development sectors can improve healthcare delivery and equitable access to quality medical services. MERF said it will keep working with the provincial government and KPHF on patient satisfaction, operational effectiveness and service quality. The stated goal is that vulnerable groups can reach prompt, reasonably priced and high-quality care near their homes.
The Wana performance figures come from the IMU, while the descriptions of services and the wider claims about access and quality come from MERF. Together they show how the PPP model is being presented as KP healthcare services move further into partnership-run hospitals.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ke kuch sarkari hospital ab MERF aur KPHF ke saath mil kar chal rahe hain. DHQ Hospital Wana ka performance score 37 se barh kar 80 se 84 percent ke darmiyan ho gaya hai, jo IMU ne bataya hai. Is ka matlab hai ke mareez ko specialist doctors, emergency aur dialysis jaisi sahuliyat qareeb mil sakti hai. Yeh sab MERF aur IMU ke bayan par mabni hai, is liye apne qareeb ke hospital mein khud dekhein ke behtari aayi ya nahi.
