KARACHI, June 25: The governing body of the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI) on Tuesday approved the institution’s surplus budget of Rs608.513 million for the year 2002-2003 in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh minister for labour Dewan Muhammad Yousuf Farooqui.

The budget allocates Rs427.346 million for medical care and Rs31.222 million for benefits payable to the workers in cash, thus projecting an overall increase in the workers’ welfare.

The income aspect of the budget envisages Rs557.830 million from the social security contributions, Rs40.667 million profit on investment and Rs10.016 million from miscellaneous sources.

Elaborating the budget grants, the minister said that the present government was striving hard to provide maximum facilities to the working class. He added that workers’ welfare was a prerequisite for strengthening the national economy. The employer, the employee and the institution had to join hands to make the social security scheme more effective and the budget would prove a milestone in that direction.

Dewan Yousuf advised the governing body members to work in close liaison with the SESSI functionaries so as to attune the working of the institution with the changing trends.

Earlier, presenting the budget to the governing body, commissioner SESSI Ameer Ali Burq, said he envisaged a system of in which those who gave care could feel proud of their work, and those who received care could feel total trust and confidence in the care they received.

He further said the budget was an effort to translate that vision into practice. The budget has five objectives: to tap the current resources to the maximum; to plug leakages; to take energetic steps to increase the contribution income; to upgrade SESSI competency through investment in human resource and to develop SOPs for internal controls and audit.

He said the total number of secured workers during the year 2002-2003 was estimated 245,800 while total beneficiaries could be 1,474,800 including the dependents.

Highlighting the salient features of budget, Ameer Ali Burq informed the governing body that main expenditure of Rs427.346 million would be incurred on the provision of medical care facilities at SESSI’s medical centres. Modern medical equipment, laboratory equipment and ambulances would be purchased with an expenditure of Rs8.258 million for all the four hospitals of SESSI.

He said the medicines would be purchased from pharmaceutical firms of national and international repute and only the patent medicines would be administered to the patients . For that purpose an amount of 90.335 million rupees were allocated in the current budget.

He assured the task of making the SESSI a true welfare- oriented institution by maximizing the benefits to the workers and broadening the base of contribution collection would be fulfilled. Commissioner SESSI also presented the revised budget of the year 2001-2002 which showed a surplus of Rs.10.838 million with an income of Rs520.754 million.

PROGRESS REVIEWED: Measures for improvement of SESSI, specially the working of medical centres, was discussed in a review meeting held under the chairmanship of commissioner SESSI, Ameer Ali Burq, here on Tuesday.