ISLAMABAD: A World Bank report says that the implementation of the ‘Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan’ project, which is to prepare a response to Covid-19 in the country and strengthen national systems for public health preparedness, has been delayed due to the pending PC-I.
Following the instructions issued by the Economic Affairs Division, federal and provincial PC-Is were prepared for the health component of the project. However, due to a significant delay in their approval process, implementation has been on a pause, according to the report released by the bank on Nov 21.
The report says a restructuring is planned to amend one of the implementing agencies under the project. The World Bank approved $200 million for the project in April. The objective is to prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by Covid-19 and strengthen systems for public health preparedness.
The $200m package is to help Pakistan take effective and timely action to respond to Covid-19 by strengthening the country’s national healthcare systems and mitigating socio-economic disruptions. This support will also draw an extra $38m from eight existing projects for urgently needed medical equipment and supplies.
The project will help establish quarantine facilities in collaboration with public and private hospitals and also supply equipment to hospitals, including ventilators and personal protection equipment for doctors and paramedics.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2020
