25pc more money to be spent on health

Karachi
With a total budget outlay of Rs57.49 billion out of which Rs13.26 billion reserved only for health institutions in the upcoming financial year, the Sindh government has proposed a 105 percent increase in grants provided to hospitals and health programmes.
Besides an increase in regular grants to Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Peoples’ Primary Healthcare Initiative, Indus Hospital Karachi and others, grants of Rs10 million for the Kidney Centre, Rs35 million for LRBT Eye Hospital in Korangi, and a one-time grant worth Rs2.3 billion for liver transplant unit at SIUT’s Sukkur complex are also in the offing.
To improve healthcare services in rural areas of the province, the funding for Peoples’ Primary Healthcare Initiative was increased by 19 percent, from Rs2.73 billion in the current financial year to Rs3.255 billion in 2015-2016.
Meanwhile, when the founder of the SIUT Dr Adeeb-ul-Hasan Rizvi entered the governor’s gallery next to the Speaker’s seat, finance minister Murad Ali Shah took a brief break from his speech to appreciate the surgeon’s role via his institution before announcing the increase in funding for hospitals and health programmes.
During his speech, the minister claimed that health services had improved across the province. The sector received the third largest share from the total budget outlay.
He said the current revenue expenditure of health, except medical education, had been significantly increased by 32 percent, from Rs43.48 billion in the current financial year to Rs57.49 billion in the next financial year.
In addition to allocation for health, Rs3.94 billion have also been allocated for medical education against budget estimates of Rs3.36 billion, reflecting an increase of 17.26 percent, he said. Meanwhile, around Rs13.22 billion have been earmarked for ADP schemes pertaining to health while the amount released for

expenditure in 2014-2015 remains Rs9.641 billion.
According to the finance minister, the ADP schemes for the upcoming financial year were pitched at Rs13 billion, which include Rs10 billion for ongoing schemes and Rs2.93 billion for new ones, an increase of 35 percent in the amount released in current financial year.
Moreover, he said, an amount of more than Rs1 billion was estimated to be spent for vertical health programmes such as the Expanded Programme of Immunisation, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Programme, Hepatitis control programme, prevention and control of blindness, TB and malaria control programmes.
Besides the ADP and Federal Public Sector Development Programme, Rs2.38 have also been allocated for foreign funded projects of the health department including Rs1.385 billion for the Nutrition Support Programme of Sindh (Rs1.385 billion and establishment of Child Health Care Institute in Sukkur at a cost of Rs1 billion with the help of Korea.

Infrastructure
The Sindh government also plans to extend the outreach of health services and in this regard is also focusing on the rehabilitation of infrastructure with establishment of additional services in the existing health facilities, said the finance minister.
He claimed that the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Accident, Emergency and Ancillary Services Complex at Civil Hospital Karachi will be completed by December 2015 while taluka and district headquarter (THQ/ DHQ) rehabilitation programme which began in 2008 had completed 80 percent of their planned work.
Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art 200-bed hospital, Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences, has been built with assistance from the USAID. The minister said the establishment of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Unit in NICVD, a new children’s hospital in New Karachi was funded by JICA and a liver transplant unit in SIUT were also in the pipeline.

New initiatives
For the upcoming year, the Sindh government has a number of new projects and schemes in mind which include the establishment of SIUT’s multi-organ transplant and biological centre in Kathore, near Karachi, at a cost of Rs5.3 billion, the finance minister said. Other planned projects include the up-gradation of Nuclear Institute of Medicine and Radiotherapy in Jamshoro, construction of Talib-ul-Moula medical college and teaching hospital in Hala and establishment of divisional directorate of health services in all divisional headquarters, building of a 580-bed surgical complex at JPMC with assistance of Rs1.5 billion and upgradation of 25 rural healthcare centres which are in dilapidated condition.