PESHAWAR, Dec 19: The NWFP finance department is reluctant to sanction posts to re-activate the redundant health management information system, officials told Dawn on Wednesday.

“We have sent proposals for 40 posts to re-activate the health management information system (HMIS) to collect data regarding diseases and take measures accordingly,” a senior official said.

With the financial assistance of the USAID and Unicef, the health department established the system in 1993 with a view to collect demographic data, regarding 18 diseases on the basis the government could make plans and strategies.

“The province desperately needs a data collecting mechanism in view of the volatile situation. The system would also enable us to have a disease early warning system (DEWS),” officials said. Initially, the HMIS worked under the director-general of health services with its branches in all 24 districts of the province. It ran smoothly, but suffered a setback in 1996 when the donors stopped releasing funds and its activities came to a halt, till it was re-launched and funded by the Women Health Project in 1999 which allocated Rs5.5 million which was spent on purchase of computers, but without proper networking.

They said that plans were made to link computers through Internet with all its branches but were not materialised.

Officials said that HMIS is responsible to collect data from various areas of the province regarding 18 diseases and to furnish the health department with the information regarding the healthcare situation.

In 2002, it reported about 3.5 million cases of various diseases, including diarrhoea, dysentery, acute respiratory infection, malaria, cough, suspected cholera, measles, suspected meningococcal meningitis, diphtheria, whooping cough, goitre and suspected HIV/AIDS from Malakand, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat and Hazara divisions.

The cases were reported only from the rural heath centres and basic health units, where according to Unicef, only 20 per cent people go for treatment and 80 per cent of the patients visit private hospitals.

Furthermore, the report also doesn’t include the number of patients, treated at the DHQs and tertiary care hospitals.

“The HMIS is of vital importance for complete and authentic reports regarding the prevalence of diseases and measures to save people from those ailments,” they said.

But now owing lack of staff and funds, it was impossible for the health personnel to prepare correct data.