UK charity to supply Sindh medicines for 5 yrs

Medical superintendents of major government hospitals will put together a list of all medication the province needs.

KARACHI: The medical superintendents of all major government hospitals are going to form a cell that will put together a list of all medication the province needs, said Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed.

On Monday, he signed an agreement with British NGO International Health Partners (IHP) for a five-year plan to supply stock worth $2 million each year.

Previously, the IGP was working with the government of the Punjab that got four million dollars in medicines last year. “In view of the floods which affected millions, the IHP has already contributed about five million dollars to Sindh but this MoU, which kicks off from the upcoming financial year, is independent of that,” said IHP president Anthony Dunnett.

“Pakistan has been a close friend and our (IHP) patron, the Prince of Wales, has shown sincere concern for the region especially after the monsoon floods,” Dunnett said. He hoped to strengthen their support to the health department in time to come.

The money saved through the initiative can be used to help achieve the country’s millennium development goals. “It is a crime that women and children’s needs are not met and we are grateful for the opportunity to help provide the right medicines to the right people at the right time.”

The medicines will be sent in two bunches - one for the humanitarian cause which would be supplied to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the other to the health departments.

WHO representative in Pakistan Dr Guido Sabatineui called the initiative “a tripartite agreement” and said that the continued commitment of the government was important. According to Sabatineui, 50 per cent of the $10 million donated for the flood was distributed in Sindh where the need was currently the greatest. Sabatineui explained that the WHO’s role involved logistical management of the medicines as well as ensuring the terms of agreement, with special stress on transparency, were enforced.

IHP Pharmacist Trudi Hilton said medicines currently required were mostly antibiotics, for oral rehydration and anti-malarials.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2011.