–SH&MED’s ‘Performance Management System’ remains incomplete after 7 years
–ICT in-charge Abdul Wahab says only answerable to DGM&E
LAHORE: The incompetence of Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department (SH&MED) staff has halted the progress of an important project titled ‘Performance Management System’ which lags behind its foremost objectives whereas stakeholders have claimed that the project is still in its ‘initial stages’, Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.
Credible sources informed this scribe that one of the objectives of the project was to develop web-based Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) according to the requirement of the department. The developed software contains information, including hospital data, name and credentials of heads of health facilities, employee credentials, notices, vacancies, service records, leave records, automated transfer posting module, etc. but completely misses the service record of employees as it has not been digitised by the department yet.
Similarly, the project aimed to develop web-based Scheme Portfolio Management System to computerise the record of all schemes of SH&MED but the system was not implemented, however, officials claimed that the system has been developed. A system for the inspection/monitoring of hospitals was also on cards based on the defined parameters already set up the departments. Through the system, those parameters could be tested by the authorities. The system has been developed but has not been implemented.
Sources further said that the main objective of the project was to develop Android applications for developed systems of SH&MED because there were numerous health systems deployed in the health sector and there was a dire need for their accessibility on smartphones for the facilitation of the department officials and the public. No application has been developed yet.
Sources said that the department was also responsible for the development of the Health Education Management Information System (HEMIS) because it had no exact figure of the enrolled students and the number of graduates in the health sector in the entire province. Due to the incompetence of the staff, the target remains unachieved.
A media cell was also proposed under the project to provide media coverage to all official meetings and visits of the high-ups using the latest audio and video equipment which could then be spread on social media. However, this objective also remains unfulfilled.
Sources said that despite the availability of funds and human resource, the department failed to fill the vacant positions of IT manager, software developer, Android web developer, software quality assurance engineer, statistical data analyst, naib qasid, media cell in-charge, animator, editor, designers and cameraman.
The Directorate General Monitoring and Evaluation (DGM&E) has also issued a monitoring report on the project which states that surveillance system which was planned to be functional at OPD of all teaching hospitals was only operational at the head office of SH&ME department. “Home page of the department’s website is not secured with an SSL certificate thus making it vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Personal information of the employees is not secure either as anyone can access the personal credentials of the employees using their CNIC number. IT equipment is not placed properly in the IT lab and server room and the front wall has a glass wall, exposing the sensitive equipment. Of the 39 positions proposed in the project PC-I, only nine officials are working at the ICT cell which is why the full project scope was not covered,” the report stated.
DGM&E also recommended to the concerned authorities to develop and implement all the systems in order to achieve the objectives of the project.
Talking to Pakistan Today, ICT in-charge Abdul Wahab, who is also a stakeholder of the project, said, “The project is still in its initial stages. We have thoroughly studied the monitoring report of DGM&E and we are only answerable to them.”
It is pertinent to mention here that the project was initiated in 2012 and the department has already received all the funds required for the completion of the project.
