Health budget up by 19 per cent in Sindh

No funds allocated by Sindh govt for JPMC, NICVD, NICH

KARACHI: The chief minister of Sindh on Friday announced an allocation of Rs114.4 billion for the health sector in the next fiscal year 2019-20, up 19 per cent from last year's allocation. The province has also set aside Rs1 billion as an endowment fund for the welfare of patients afflicted with HIV/Aids in Larkana.

The health sector will see the completion of 12 ongoing schemes, for which Rs13.5 billion have been earmarked. From this amount, Rs600 million will be spent on the procurement of machinery and medical equipment for various health faculties at Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana, while Rs275 million will be spent on the improvement of neurological health facilities through the development of a Community Mental Health Programme. In addition, a 200-bed centre for newborn healthcare will be established by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) in Jamshoro.

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The provincial budget has also appropriated funds for the completion of 43 health development schemes introduced in the previous budget. The budget has marked Rs4.08 billion for ongoing health projects including programmes relating to immunisation, and to AIDS, malaria, and TB control.

The budget, while mentioning the utilisation of public-private partnerships, states that the provincial government has given control of some government health facilities in the form of public-private health initiatives while the managing organisations, including Hands, Integrated Services, MIRF, and Indus Hospital with the aim that they will provide better medical facilities to the citizens.



The budget has also increased the grant awarded to Pir Abdul Shah Gilani Institute of Medical Sciences after its "remarkable achievements" in the area of liver transplantation in Khaipur.

The health facility's grant was increased to Rs3.6 billion from the previous Rs2 billion, reflecting an increase of 60 per cent. The provincial government has also set aside a grant of Rs5.6 billion for SIUT in wake of its needs for treatment facilities for blood diseases, reflecting an increase of Rs500 million compared to the previous year.

Control dispute

The provincial government in its budget for FY2019-20 has not allocated any funds for Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), National Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases [NICVD] and National Institute for Child Health [NICH]. However, sources within the provincial government maintain that the chief minister of Sindh has allocated budgets for all three government hospitals under the head of 'Block Allocation', an official term relating to discretionary funds held by the chief minister that can be transferred to the hospitals if needed.

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The amount is held under block allocation as the matter of who controls the three hospitals is uncertain after the federal government, through a May 22 notification had assumed control of all three hospitals. The Sindh government maintains that the federal government had taken the control without waiting for the decision on its review petition in the apex court.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, during the Friday budget session once again objected to the move and stated that the provincial government has already filed a review petition with the Supreme Court, a decision on which is still awaited.

In 2018-19, the provincial government allocated Rs8.876 million to NICVD, Rs1 billion to NICH and Rs3.5 billion to JPMC.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2019.