KARACHI, July 23: A meeting of the Departmental Development Working Party for the Health Sector here on Wednesday approved the revised scheme for Basic Development Needs programme for the province and extended its project life till June 2005.

The programme was affirmed at a revised cost of Rs20.636 million at a meeting chaired by the provincial Health Secretary Ashiq Hussein Memon.

The ongoing scheme has been in progress since October 2001 and has brought about a significant difference in the quality of life of the population if the area of its operations through a multi-sectoral approach coupled with community involvement.

So far, an amount of Rs6.636 million has been spent while an additional amount of Rs44 million will be spent during the period ending in June 2005. Out of that amount, the WHO’s share, including the revolving fund, is Rs8.038 million, that of Sindh Government is Rs3.903 million while the community will bear the expenditure to the tune of Rs2.059 million.

It may be mentioned that the Basic Development Needs (BDN) programme was launched in Sindh during 1996 in Union Council Bubak of Taluka Sehwan, Dadu district, with the aim of improving quality of life leading to an overall improvement in citizens’ health.

Eversince the inception of the programme, more than 1,300 families have directly benefited from the scheme through micro-credit enterprises in livestock, agriculture, skilled and unskilled trades and development.

During the BDN programme’s pilot phase, initiated with WHO grant, the major objectives were to improve health and literacy, alleviate poverty by generating employment opportunities and enhancing communities’ capacity.

Through such efforts, the financial burden on the public sector was lessened to some extent. The objectives were achieved through investment in different sectors, including irrigation, agricultural, dairy and livestock, poultry farming, fishing boats and nets, cottage industry, carpentry, tailoring, female skill development centres, forestry development, small scale business activities (undertaken by local entrepreneurs) besides support to the traditional means of transport.

Health Secretary Ashiq Hussein Memon formally approved the scheme at the meeting and appreciated efforts by the WHO (Sindh) and the programme manger Basic Development, Dr Khadam Hussain Lashkar.

He expressed the desire on behalf of the health department to replicate the programme in other talukas of Dadu district as well as other parts of the province.

He called for concerted efforts in collaboration with district and taluka Nazims, DCO of Dadu and EDOs of the line departments.

Mr Memon also called for meetings of the District Steering Committee to be convened at regular intervals.

Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi, WHO’s operations officer for Sindh, tracing the history of the programme since 1997, thanked the provincial health department for actively collaborating with the WHO and local communities.

He mentioned that the EPI coverage had been raised to nearly 100 per cent in certain UCs of Sehwan, efforts for the control of malaria and leishmaniasis were under way and 12 women vocational centres had been established.

About 100 hand pumps were installed to provide safe drinking water and 100 latrines built to improve hygienic conditions, Dr Kazi pointed out and said a survey would be carried out soon to measure the impact of intervention of health indicators.

Fazal Ahmed Nizamani called for the provision of quarterly reports reflecting the physical and financial progress by the project authorities so that proper monitoring and evaluation could be carried out.

Additional secretaries Mohammad Iqbal Dewan and Dr Iqbal Ahmed Daudpota, Umer Abro and Shah Bux Bhutto also expressed their views on the occasion.

The meeting deferred a scheme for strengthening blood transfusion system in Sindh at a cost of Rs20 million. The health secretary directed that all the technical observations about the scheme be raised by the planning and finance department. Mr Memon said that the proposal be addressed within a week for a review.—APP