Punjab healthcare commission makes uniforms mandatory for hospital staff

The Punjab Healthcare Commission has made uniforms compulsory for doctors and other healthcare staff at medical treatment facilities across the province, in directives issued on Friday.

The order covers all staff at Category-I and Category-IIA healthcare establishments in Punjab. It was issued under Section 4(2)(o) of the Punjab Healthcare Commission Act 2010, ProPakistani reported.

Doctors will wear blue uniforms and paramedical staff green. Laboratory personnel are required to wear white coats. Sanitation workers have also been told to wear standardised uniforms.

The commission directed that the uniforms be short-sleeved, a provision it tied to preventing infections. Staff have been barred from wearing their designated uniforms outside hospital premises.

Healthcare facilities across Punjab have been instructed to ensure compliance with the uniform requirements, according to the report.

The colour scheme separates the categories: blue for doctors, green for paramedical workers, white coats for laboratory staff, with a separate standardised uniform for sanitation workers, who are not clinical staff.

Pakistan Connect also carried the directive, reporting that medical staff are required to wear uniforms under the new order. Its report did not set out the colour assigned to each staff category, the section of the Act invoked, or the rules on sleeves and on wearing uniforms outside premises.

Neither report stated when the requirement takes effect, what deadline facilities have been given to comply, or what penalty applies to staff who do not follow the directive.

The Punjab Healthcare Commission is the statutory regulator of healthcare establishments in the province, established under the 2010 Act.