KARACHI: 450 health facilities in Sindh not functioning
By Nizamuddin Siddiqui
KARACHI, April 27: More than 450 healthcare facilities in Sindh, built at considerable cost to the taxpayers, either remain non-functional or grossly under-utilized. The reason: the finance department is yet to approve the SNE for appointing staff who could run these.
The senior officials of the health department and chief minister’s inspection team have written to the finance department umpteen times for the approval of proposed new expenditures. However, not a single meaningful step has been taken so far to make the buildings built in the mid-90s functional.
“Don’t bother yourself with this kind of issue,” a senior government official told Dawn on Saturday afternoon. “Health and education are simply not in the top officials’ book of priorities.
“That’s why I am certain that no important measure will be taken anytime soon in these two areas,” he said. The official was of the opinion that the area which would continue to be on the list of priorities, no matter what, was “development and works”.
“This is every senior official’s favourite area, the main reason being the huge amounts involved.” He claimed that about 50 per cent of the money set aside for development and works projects were spent on commissions and kickbacks.
“Just consider, the money for constructing new buildings is released religiously and promptly on the first day of every July. But the funds needed on the revenue side — for salaries, equipment and medicines — are released in fits and starts and after several objections on the part of finance department officials.
“This drama is played out several times a year. The only reason why the funds needed to pay for salaries and medicines are not released in a smooth and orderly fashion is that the finance department is perpetually short of funds once the money needed for development work is paid out.”
Turning to a related issue, the official said the authorities should stop undertaking the construction of new buildings. “Look, so many buildings that were built at a cost of millions of rupees in the mid-90s remain unutilized even today.
“And yet the senior officials are going for new projects. People should ask the authorities why this is happening.”
The official pointed out that the annual development budget involved about Rs9 billion. “On the other hand, the money needed to make the unutilized buildings functional is only Rs600 million.
“What difference will it make if, for two years perhaps, the annual development budget is cut by Rs500 million or Rs600 million. But as I told you earlier, the top officials are simply not interested in making health and education projects functional.”
Meanwhile, the CM’s inspection team inspected the government health centres in Badin district on April 5 and those in Sanghar district on April 12. There are 88 government-run health centres in Badin district and 84 in Sanghar.
The team found that the SNEs of 13 healthcare facilities in Badin district were yet to be approved. The names of these institutions were: Nursing Training School, Badin; MCH Centre, Badin; Government Dispensary, Manik village; Government Dispensary, Seerani village; Government Dispensary, Allahabad village; Government Dispensary, Gahano Khan Leghari village; Government Dispensary, Beero Lanjwani village; Government Dispensary, Meena village; Government Dispensary, Chak No.5; Government Dispensary, Abdullah Samo village; Government Dispensary, Bukho Chandio village; Government Dispensary, Sultan Siahro village; and, Government Dispensary, Qabil Chak village.
Similarly, there were 32 healthcare facilities in Sanghar district for which SNEs had not been approved.
Some of these facilities had been made partly functional by transferring doctors and paramedical staff from other areas, adversely affecting the performance of the institutions from where they were transferred. At best, the facilities to which the doctors had been transferred remained only partially-utilized, a member of the CM’s inspection team told Dawn.
