August 8, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 9, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, Aug 7: The much trumpeted promise of the government to double the budget for teaching hospitals has remained unfulfilled, as these healthcare centres have been provided with an unchanged allocation, sources said on Thursday.

“A sum of Rs90 million has been released to the hospitals as the first quarter instalment of the Rs360 million annual budget, which is the same as the one provided last year,” a senior official told Dawn.

It may be recalled that Punjab Health Minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed, during a visit to the Holy Family Hospital on June 11, had announced that the allocation for teaching hospitals would be doubled in the 2003-04 budget, adding that the money would be spent on improving services at the healthcare centres.

The allocation had proved insufficient last year, having a telling impact on the overall patient-care at these hospitals. It is feared that the services at the teaching hospitals could further worsen if the promised enhancement was not provided.

However, according to some other sources, the teaching hospitals have been communicated by the provincial health department that the promised enhanced allocation was being processed and may be released as a supplementary grant.

Apart from the problem with the quantum of the budget, a big question mark hangs over the utilization of the allocation as the spending powers have yet to be defined by the health department.

The administrative structure of the teaching hospitals had been modified through a bill approved by the provincial assembly, but the rules of business to operationalize the legislation are still nowhere in sight.

The board of management has been constituted under the new system, but no one, either on the board or sitting in the management, is clear about his powers.

Commenting on the situation, an official said: “how can I spend the money put at my disposal when I am not sure about my powers and limitations. Therefore this budget is all but useless till the rules of business for the institutions are announced.”