Centralise TB data, Senate panel tells provinces

Notes that funds allocated for tuberculosis control given to private hospitals, NGOs and hospitals

ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Senate on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination directed the provinces to centralise all the data related to tuberculosis (TB) through a software and take proactive measure to control the disease once and for all.

The committee took strong notice of the fact that a large amount of the fund allocated for tuberculosis control is given to private institutions, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and hospitals while the amount can be saved by utilising the government network to get more medicines.  The committee members also expressed annoyance over the deployment of mobile units for TB control only in Karachi whereas there are numerous patients in the interior Sindh and Balochistan.

The three member sub-committee committee met Thursday to discuss the initiatives and issues faced by the national and provincial tuberculosis control programmes, Indus Hospital, Karachi and Mercy Corps as the programme is being implemented by the government in collaboration with the private bodies.

National TB Control Programme Manager Dr Nasir Mahmood Khan and provincial managers briefed the senators about the performance in their respective areas. The provincial managers said they cater to the majority of the patients but the Global Funds has double standards as major share of the resources are given to the Indus Hospital not the government networks.

They complained that the funds and the mobile units are also given to the Indus Hospital and the provincial programmes are being ignored.

Indus Hospital CEO Abdul Bari briefing the senators said they have been doing 50% of TB related work in Sindh, while mobile units too have been working in various cities.

Refuting the claims, Sindh TB Control manager said his department has delivered 85 per cent of the work in TB control and treatment, while the hospital only does 15 per cent work.

Different claims made by the respective officials annoyed the senators. “It seems the funds for TB control and treatment are not being used appropriately, whatever we ask from the relevant department the answer is ‘it is in the pipeline’. The TB Control Programme people need to be more responsible,” Senator Ashok Kumar said.

The committee decided to visit the Indus Hospital Karachi.

Millions of dollars

Pakistan receives $143 million from Global Fund to provide healthcare facilities to the patients of tuberculosis and of them $88 million are given in the head of medicines that the fund purchases itself.

The officials said there are issues of funding and distribution but it is also feared that it may be reduced further. Federal Secretary Health Naveed Kamran said the country needs about $500 million to control the disease completely while the Global Fund gives about $ 143 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2017.