June 10, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 9: A record Rs14.3 billion has been earmarked for health sector development in the 2007-08 federal budget, which means a 29.7 per cent increase over the outgoing year’s allocation of Rs11 billion.

Under the Public Sector Development Programme for 2007-08, of the allocated amount Rs12.68 billion will be met from domestic resources and Rs1.58 billion through foreign assistance.

In his budget speech, Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan spoke of the President’s Initiative for Urban Clinics which envisages 815 medical clinics at the union council level in cities like Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Quetta.

A doctor, lady health worker and a dispenser would work at each clinic. Staff would be recruited from local union councils to generate 4,917 jobs, he said.

The total estimated cost of 100 different ongoing and new projects under the PSDP in the health sector is Rs95.5 billion, of which Rs23.7 billion has already been spent and Rs71.8 billion has been carried forward. Of the 100 projects, 27 are new initiatives which will cost Rs1.69 billion.

Significant among the new projects is construction of a medical tower at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College in Karachi at a cost of Rs400 million, which will be met by the government through its own resources. The total cost of the project is Rs3.3 billion.

Similarly, Rs200 million has been allocated for construction of a medical tower at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. The total cost of the project is Rs2.2 billion.

Establishment of a burns centre in Faisalabad at a cost of Rs240 million is also included in the PSDP. An amount of Rs140 million has been earmarked for upgrading the paediatric cardiac unit at the National Institute for the Handicapped in Rawalpindi, from a total of Rs321 million allocated for the project.

The PSDP includes construction of two trauma centres in Bhera Service Area, Lahore Motorway, and Chakri Interchange, Rawalpindi, at a cost of Rs80 million.

An amount of Rs60 million has been earmarked for providing 64 Slice Helical CT Scan angiography equipment at the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases.

A cancer hospital in Lahore will also be built for which Rs46.340 million has been set aside. A sum of Rs50 million has been fixed for strengthening the National Control Authority for Biology, Islamabad, and its independent laboratory. The project’s total cost is Rs231 million.

Among the ongoing projects, Rs4.89 billion has been allocated for the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Healthcare, of which Rs4.5 billion will be government’s own contribution and Rs360 million foreign loan.

For the Expanded Programme of Immunisation, Control of Diarrhoeal Disease, NIH, Islamabad, the allocated amount is Rs1.6 billion and Rs360 million will be spent on the Enhanced HIV/Aids Control Programme, NIH.