PESHAWAR, Jan 21: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has planned to seek the international donors' support for the health department's restructuring meant to improve health delivery in the province.
'The restructuring programme will soon be implemented after getting firm commitments from donors to improve patient care,' a relevant government official told Dawn on Saturday.
He said the health department would outline the programme it had made after 18th Amendment to use available resources and ensure better health delivery to patients from basic health units to district headquarters and tertiary care hospitals.
Officials said in the post18th amendment regime, the provincial government was required to pay more than Rs2 billion annually to the nine health programmes run by the health ministry before the amendment was passed by parliament.
'We opted for restructuring to be able to absorb the additional responsibilities and staff and improve patient care,' an official said.
Officials said the federal government would provide money for the programme until 2014 after which the province was to bear its cost.
They said the government had already pledged Rs500 million to the health department to execute the plan but the health department also needed long-term and immediate help of international donors.
'Donors will be convinced to support the health department in areas of technical assistance in information technology at the secretariat, directorate and subsequently to district level,' an official said.
He said the government al-located Rs10 billion half of which went to the salary of 47,000 employees but quality of patient care was not up to the mark due to non-existence of standards.
'The restructuring plan formed last year is about improving health services to people. It is aimed at improving health delivery with regular support of international donors in programmes, especially in creating the people's awareness of prevention of diseases and adopting healthy lifestyles,' the official said.
He further said: 'Many organisations have assured us of technical and financial assistance to execute the plan.
We are ready to implement the plan and just awaiting donors' help.
Officials said other areas in which the provincial health department looked towards donors in data collection and planning about future development programme.
They said they wanted international donor agencies develop the existing district health information system to get information about diseases reported in health facilities and take timely measures to contain them.
According to officials, half of the 1,5000 health facilities in the province have been built without planning. In some places, there is a basic health unit for a population of 100 people, while another village with 5,000 people doesn't have a dispensary.
'We also seek donors' assistance to take evidence-based decisions in new development programmes in line with the needs of the populanon.
'UN and other donor agencies have already been spending huge sum of money on polio campaigns in the province.
They will be asked to strengthen the expanded programme of immunisation as it is a regular government programme and oral polio vaccine is one of the eight childhood diseases covered by it, an official said.