PHOTO: EXPRESS
PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has allocated over Rs10.5 billion for the health sector’s Annual Development Programme (ADP) for Fiscal Year 2016-17.
The amount has been granted for different schemes, including a five-year K-P Immunisation Programme.
The government also allocated funds for an integrated programme to control HIV, thalassemia and hepatitis as it plans to provide laboratory testing facilities on a district level to benefit around 1.7 million people.
More than Rs10.5 billion has been allocated for 93 schemes in the ADP, official documents show.
Part of plan
As part of the budget allocations, rural health centres in Mansehra and Kohat and Civil Hospital Shakardara will be upgraded to category ‘D’ hospitals. Besides, upgradation of basic health units in Peshawar, Mardan and Swabi, purchasing land for Gajju Khan Medical College and constructing the Timergara Medical College and Peshawar Institute of Cardiology are also part of the 2016-17 ADP.
Similarly, establishing Khyber Institute of Neurosciences and Clinical Research Centre in Mardan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical College in Peshawar are also part of the health budget. In addition, funds have been allocated for the establishment of regional blood transfusion centres in Swat, Abbottabad and DI Khan.
Documents read of the total health budget of Rs38 billion for health sector, Rs6 billion will be spent on some 70 schemes currently under way, while Rs5 billion have been allocated for 16 new projects. Additional funds have also been allocated for completion of nine schemes at Paraplegic Centre in Hayatabad.
The documents stated schemes to be completed included an emergency department at District Headquarters Hospital Haripur, construction of District Headquarters Hospital Nowshera and an accident and emergency department at Khyber Teaching Hospital.
The schemes approved during FY 2015-16 and still ongoing included construction of a skilled laboratory at the Post Graduate Medical Institute Hayatabad along with a new building for Saidu and Gomel medical colleges.
The current projects also include construction of health facilities in Chitral, Torghar, Balakot and Kohistan regions. Besides, funds were set aside for vaccines against different diseases and schemes introduced for treatment against Hepatitis, thalassemia and HIV/AIDs.
City’s hospital
A seven-storey under construction building at the Lady Reading Hospital is also part of the ongoing schemes.
The new schemes include provision of health insurance for people of the province and a sum of Rs2 billion has been allocated for the purpose.
Besides, Rs1 billion have been allocated to provide free medicines at emergency departments of health facilities. It has also been proposed treatment of all kinds of cancer be made free under the ‘Free Cancer Treatment project’.
Besides the ADP, a sum of over Rs25.5 billion were earmarked for health in 2016-17 budget for expenses, while more than Rs21,5 billion was allocated in the 2015-16 budget. This showed an increase of 18.29% in budget estimates.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2016.
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