PESHAWAR: A recent meeting between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and World Bank’s director in Pakistan has revived the hopes for starting the much delayed World Bank-managed Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) project for strengthening basic health facilities in the province.

The total outlay of the programme is $16 million in the shape of grant by a consortium of Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, European Union, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, UK and US. The programme called MDTF was to be managed by the World Bank and implemented by the health department.

In August 2012, the WB had singed an agreement with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to strengthen basic health services in the crisis-hit districts of Buner, Kohistan, Torghar, Lower Dir, Dera Ismail Khan and Battagram.

Sources said that political interference by the previous and present governments virtually led the WB to think of shifting the amount to somewhere else as half period of the three-year project had already passed.

The programme aims to restore citizens’ trust by revitalising the health care facilities and putting in place quality services in the target districts.

Modeled after a similar successful programme carried out in Hazara division after the 2005 earthquake, the health department had approved a PC-1 to ensure presence of doctors, nurses and paramedics besides medicines and diagnostic tools to provide better care to the people in basic health facilities.

Under the programme, linkages are to be created among the civil dispensaries, basic health units and category ‘D’ hospitals besides establishing a referral system for the patients.

Relevant officials told Dawn that there was a delay which had also enraged the WB, but a meeting between Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and WB’s Pakistan director had averted the crisis.

“The chief minister has given full assurance to the bank’s director that there will be complete bureaucratic and political support to materialise the programme,” they said.

The officials said that the WB director had told the chief minister during their meeting on March 22 that the project would also get extension if it showed good performance. They said that the government had revived the effort to launch the programme within a fortnight in Kohistan, Lower Dir and Battagram districts and in a month in the remaining three districts.

Free ambulance services will be made available in the selected districts to put brakes on avoidable deaths due to delivery-related complications.

The officials said that majority of the health units lacked facilities and staff due to which the people didn’t visit them. The partner organisations will provide all these facilities under the supervision of the respective district health officers.

Three health facilities damaged by militants and flood will also be reconstructed while maintenance work in the health units is also part of the programme to enhance coverage and access to Minimum Health Service Delivery Package especially for the poor and vulnerable, achieve reduction in morbidity and mortality due to common diseases, and improve human resource management, governance and accountability.

A project management unit based in Peshawar will monitor the programme’s performance through DHOs to improve availability of facilities and patients’ accessibility to health care services.