K-P Health dept wants Rs4b more

Money will be used to procure equipment for accident, emergency care

PESHAWAR: Following directions from the apex court, the provincial health department has sought additional funds from the government to provide critical equipment to health facilities around the province.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, while presiding over a division bench at Supreme Court registry, had ordered the provincial health department to submit a report on the necessary facilities provided to health centres across the province.

The provincial health department had subsequently submitted to the court a detailed list of the equipment recently provided to health facilities across the province at a cost of Rs3billion. The equipment was identified as being integral to providing immediate relief to patients.

The department had equipped primary health facilities such as Basic Health Units (BHUs), civil hospitals, Rural Health Units (RHUs), the district as well as Tehsil headquarters hospitals. Only tertiary care health facilities were excluded from the list since all the tertiary health facilities in the province are autonomous and manage their own affairs.

Officials said that the government had provided all the required facilities at these health centres, except for the equipment used for specialties since such facilities were already available at tertiary care health facilities.

“Now, since we have to comply with the court’s orders, we have written to the government to include an additional allocation of around Rs3.9billion since to procure equipment for super specialties,” a senior health official told The Express Tribune, adding that additional funds should be allocated in the budget for the fiscal year 2018-19.

The provincial government is expected to present a budget for the incoming fiscal year over the next fortnight. The health official, who refused to share his identity since he was not entitled to speak to media, said that the requisition for additional funds would be in addition to Rs3 billion the department had recently spent in acquiring equipment for health centres across K-P.

Giving details of the equipment the department had purchased recently, the official said that they include anesthesia machines, ECG machines, ultrasound, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, X-Ray machines, air purifiers, laparoscopes, slit lamps, operating microscopes, dental x-ray machines, dental units, baby incubators and others.

“This is what we have provided to the primary and secondary health care facilities,” the health official explained, adding that the court had ordered the department to also provide some items for ‘standard accident and emergency’ care at these facilities.

“We have prepared a list and sent it to the government,” the official said, adding that the department had identified around 21 items for which they needed Rs3.978 billion.



“The report to the chief justice has concluded with the assurance that a case is being submitted to the government through K-P Chief Secretary Azam Khan for the allocation of the funds in the next financial year and urgent procurement will be made on this account,” a report to the chief secretary read.

The report, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, also stated that formal orders in the allocation of funds should also be placed on record to the finance department for allocation of the amount in the upcoming budget in addition to the amount generally reserved for the health department.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2018.