Health budget to be almost halved with peanuts for new projects

Islamabad: So financially strapped is the federal government that it is set to have the current healthcare funding almost halved in the upcoming fiscal with new projects receiving peanuts.

As multilateral lender IMF is setting tough conditions for bailout revival desperately sought by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration to fill 'empty' public coffers, just Rs14 billion will be doled out to the national health services ministry in the next financial year beginning on July 1 against the current year’s Rs21.7 billion, show the 2022-23 Public Sector Development Programme documents.

The annual outlay, which is far below one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product against the World Health Organisation’s target of six per cent, is meant for Islamabad’s PIMS and Polyclinic, National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, National Institute of Health, programmes against tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS, and other federal health subjects in the post-devolution regime.

According to the next PSDP to be unveiled in the National Assembly tomorrow (Friday), almost 84 per cent of the health budget i.e. Rs11.727 billion, including a paltry aid of Rs56.58 million, will go to 31 ongoing projects, while only Rs2.272 billion, including Rs44.5 million foreign assistance, will be spent on the new ones totalling 11.

As for the ongoing health initiatives to be funded next year, the largest amount from the budgetary allocations i.e. Rs4.5 billion is meant for the ‘Sehat Sahulat’ Programme Phase-II, a flagship health insurance initiative of the last PTI government to provide free medical treatment to underprivileged segments of society. However, the outlay is almost 25 per cent (Rs1.1 billion) less than that of the ongoing fiscal (Rs5.6 billion).

Next on the list are Rs2 billion funds for establishing the Federal Government Polyclinic-II in the sector G-11/3, Islamabad, Rs1.393 billion for upgrading the Radiology Department at Shaikh Zayed Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, and Rs1 billion for putting up a 200-bed Centre of Excellence for Gynaecology and Obstetrics in Rawalpindi.

The other major ongoing projects to receive money in 2022-23 are the purchase of electro-medical equipment for the NIRM, (Rs647 million), the establishment of 200-bed Accident and Emergency Centre at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Rs500 million), the development of Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response System with Public Health Laboratories Network and Workforce Development for Transition of Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme (Rs374.84 million), the implementation of the National Action Plan on Population (Rs250 million), up-gradation of the PIMS Neurosurgery Department and provision of essential equipment to the hospital (Rs250 million), the extension of Intensive Care Department of the PIMS Mother and Child Health Centre and Children Hospital (Rs250 million), the establishment of a community health centre in Bari Imam, Islamabad, (Rs168 million), the establishment of four basic health units in Islamabad (Rs162.95 million) and the enhancement and revamping of IT infrastructure at the NHS ministry (Rs150 million).

A look at new health projects to be executed next year shows the largest part of the Rs2.272 billion budget will be spent on the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Ensuring Universal Health Coverage in Islamabad Capital Territory (Rs589 million).

The other major funding in the category includes Rs 447 million for strengthening and upgrading the Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital’s Diabetes and Endocrinology Department, Rs 300 million for setting up the Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Rs 250 million each for the National Health Support Programme and the establishment of a cancer hospital in Islamabad, and Rs 108 million for strengthening the Common Management Unit (TB, HIV/AIDS & Malaria) and ensuring accelerated response to the three diseases.

Experts fear that the massive budget cut will lead to the scaling back of services at health centres to the suffering of the poor. They also complain about the lapse of healthcare funds every year due to bureaucratic hiccups and inefficiency, which, they say, render the impact of budgetary allocations far less than projected.