Govt ‘playing politics’ on health projects?

Funds released for PML-N controlled areas, development elsewhere slow


Abdul Manan November 08, 2010

LAHORE: The Punjab government has been releasing money for healthcare projects in areas where it stands to make political gains, while ignoring projects in other parts of the province.

Last month, The Express Tribune reported that four months into fiscal 2010-11, the provincial government hadn’t released any money for the 141 healthcare projects that were allotted funds in the budget.

In the last week, the Health Department started forwarding summaries to the Finance Department recommending the release of funds for certain projects, sources in the Health Department said. But the department is being selective in what projects it recommends, they said.

The sources said that Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa had put pressure on Health Secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad and managed to get funds released for several projects in DG Khan, the chief secretary’s home district. Projects in Rawalpindi have also been progressing rapidly, while projects in Gujrat, Multan and Bahawalpur have been virtually frozen, said the sources.

The sources said that Khosa last month asked Fawad to recommend the release of allocated funds of Rs14 billion for all 141 projects, but the health secretary refused. Eventually, he agreed to forward summaries to the Finance Department recommending the release of funds for projects in Khosa’s home district of DG Khan, said the sources.

The Finance Department has released Rs10 million, allocated for 2010-2011, for the establishment of a tehsil headquarters hospital at Khar, Fort Munro, DG Khan district. The Rs74.835 million project was approved on January 19, 2010. The department also released Rs125 million, allocated for fiscal 2010-2011, for the establishment of a trauma centre at DG Khan district headquarters hospital. The Rs191.618 million project was approved in January 2 2010. The Health Department also recommended the release of Rs3 billion for the construction of a medical college in DG Khan; Rs74 million and Rs67 million for two schemes in Layyah; and Rs150 million to upgrade DG Khan DHQ hospital.

The sources said that the Health Department’s project directors and other officials working in Bahawalpur had made repeated requests to Fawad for funds for 12 new and old projects in their division, but their requests had been ignored. They said the Punjab government had slowed development in Bahawalpur since the PPP’s Khadija Waran defeated the PML-N’s Najeebuddin Awaisi in a by-election.

The sources also pointed to differences in the pace of similar projects to build cardiac hospitals in Rawalpindi and Wazirabad. The 200-bed Wazirabad Institute of Cardiology was inaugurated in 2007 by former chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. The project was estimated to cost Rs1,953 million and Rs410.233 million was allocated for it up till 2009-10. The Punjab government allocated Rs25 million for the project in 2010-11, but just Rs10 million has been released, said the sources.

In contrast, the 200-bed Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology was approved on Septmeber 9, 2009 at a cost of Rs2,611 million. It was allocated Rs410 million for fiscal 2009-10 and Rs1 billion for fiscal 2010-11. The sources said that the Punjab government had already spent around Rs900 million on the project in Rawalpindi, which is a PML-N stronghold. “They’ve been rushing the Rawalpindi project through in months, while the Wazirabad institute has been going slow for three years,” said one official. Khalid Khokhar, the chief engineer for health projects, confirmed that the Punjab government had released less than Rs10 million for the Wazirabad project. He said that at this rate, the project could take four more years to complete.

The health secretary was not available for comment

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2010.

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