GOVERNANCE AND PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITALS OF PESHAWAR: A PATIENTS’ PERSPECTIVE

This exploratory study aims to investigate the impact of good governance, on project performance in public health sector hospitals of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This quantitative study is one of the series of studies, in the health care industry, aimed to evident the impact of good governance on healthcare projects performance from patients perspective. Good governance being the independent variable with the patient satisfaction outcome being the dependent variable to know the long term impact and performance of the projects. The three major and prominent health care projects of the province KP are purposely selected for the study including "Sehat Card", the "RBC" and the "Insulin D Talk". A total sample of N=130 project beneficiaries for the three selected projects were selected using convenient sampling technique. The positive feedback highlighted fair access to healthcare, equal treatment for all patients, and high patient satisfaction. The results show positive outcome and impact of good governance on project performance. The study recommends creating advisory panels and continuous stakeholder engagement for transparency and credibility. Furthermore, the study suggests overcoming the challenges for patients from remote areas, indicating the need for additional support, improving the processes for collecting and acting on patient and community feedback, establishing a feedback loop to demonstrate the value of stakeholder participation, conducting regular project assessments, and fostering a culture of learning within project teams. By implementing these suggestions, public sector hospitals can improve participation, consensus, and overall project performance, leading to better healthcare outcomes for their communities. The study faced limitations, including restricted access to public sector data, limited patient availability, regional specificity, time constraints, external influences, resource and time constraints, and uncontrolled variables. The study further proposes similar studies in private sector as well as to investigate the governance principles in other industries.