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Mr. Aneeq Cheema's Profile
Aneeq Cheema has been associated with the Chief Minister Punjab’s Delivery Unit since 2014 where he helped run the Secondary Health Reform Roadmap for almost a year. He is also the co-founder of Rabtt, a social venture in the education space. As a Fulbright Scholar, Aneeq studied public policy and management at the Carnegie Mellon University.
Abstract
Improvements in Health Sector in Punjab and the Science of Delivery
Vaccination coverage for one-year olds in Punjab has increased from 50% in March 2014 to 70% in November 2015. Three hundred Basic Health Units in Punjab are now functioning 24/7 and delivered 33,000 babies in June 2016 compared only 4500 a year ago. At District and Tehsil hospitals, 85% of doctors are spending at least 36 hours every week in hospitals. All of this has been a result of four main factors:
1. Clarity of purpose
2. Use of data
3. Understanding the service delivery chain
4. Continuous accountability from the Chief Executive of the system (the Chief Minister)
All the above ingredients come from the developing field of ‘science of service delivery’, more popularly known as ‘Deliverology’. The term was put forth by Sir Michael Barber, who set up and led Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit in the U.K. Building on the experience Sir Barber has helped set up several such delivery units around the world including one in Punjab.
I joined the Chief Minister Punjab’s Delivery Unit upon completing my Master’s in Public Policy and Management as a Fulbright Scholar in 2014. As part of the unit, using the field data collected by the Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants I helped the Primary and Secondary Health Department of Punjab focus their efforts on doctor’s recruitment and posting and match it to the districts and hospitals in need. Today almost 80% of Punjab’s 127 Tehsil Headquarter and District Headquarter Hospitals have at least one pediatrician and gynecologist, up from about 50% in May 2015. I also helped drive similar progress in ensuring that all hospitals are staffed with general physicians, instead of crowding the traditionally preferred urban ones.
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