PSDP: Allocation for health projects stagnates

Rhetoric of increasing education, health budget has not been backed up by numbers.

ISLAMABAD:

The government has allocated Rs26.8 billion for the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination for the fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). The amount shows a negligible increase in nominal terms from last year’s Rs25.7 billion, and using the government’s own inflation estimate of 9.2% in April, funding, in real terms, has actually decreased slightly.

According to PSDP documents, the amount has been allocated for 20 ongoing schemes as opposed to 17 last year.

There has been no change in the allocation for all ongoing schemes compared to the previous financial year. However, the Emergency Plan for Polio Eradication has been added to the list of ongoing schemes for FY 2014-15 and a total of Rs1 billion has been earmarked for it.

Under the PSDP, the highest amount for FY 2014-15 out of the total allocation has been earmarked for National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care --- Rs11 billion, an amount unchanged from the previous FY. The estimated cost of the project is almost Rs20 billion and till June this year, Rs3.07 billion will have been utilised.



The next largest allocation is for the Punjab Population Welfare Programme, for which Rs3.7 billion was allocated this year as well as last year. The estimated cost of the project is Rs18.75 billion, and Rs9.94 billion will have been released by June.

The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Control of Diarrheal Disease (CDD) NIH Islamabad has been allocated Rs2.8 billion for FY2014-15.

Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar told The Express Tribune that the Planning Commission of Pakistan and the Ministry of Finance had already informed the federal health ministry that there would be no increase or decrease in the allocation for ongoing projects for FY2014-15.

She said the funding for most projects was capped after the devolution of the Health Ministry under the 18th Amendment.

“However, NHSRC requires an increase in the allocation for the EPI programme in line with the increase in the number of children born every year. This has increased demand for vaccines and provinces ask the centre to meet the demand,” she said.

Besides, the ministry also demanded that the government allocate funds for the Polio eradication programme for FY2014-15 along with a few other ongoing National Institute of Health (NIH) projects, she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2014.