Punjab slashes health sector’s budget by 36.39pc

LAHORE: The Punjab government has slashed health sector’s budget by 36.39 per cent with allocation of Rs 32 billion under the Annual Development Programme 2018-19 as compared to previous year’s combined allocation of Rs 50.308 billion for health’s bifurcated departments, ending on June 30, 2018.

This year’s development budget for the health sector registered a cut of Rs 18.308 billion from previous year’s development programme under ADP-2017-18. The Punjab government has also cut 54.54 per cent budget of Punjab Emergency Service for its premier ambulance service Rescue-1122.

The Emergency Service gets Rs 1 billion under development programme for fiscal 2018-19 as compared to previous year’s allocation of Rs 2.2 billion under ADP 2017-18. The Punjab government is committed to its vision of “providing universal healthcare and building a healthy community with easy access to affordable and quality healthcare”. Primary and Secondary Healthcare is focused on delivering quality healthcare and family planning services through an efficient and effective service delivery system that is accessible, equitable, affordable and sustainable. Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education lays emphasis more on better patient care as, in recent years, the physical infrastructure of tertiary care hospitals has been improved to a considerable extent.

The next three years’ fiscal projections for a period from 2018-19 to 2020-21 under Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), show a trend of gradual increase in development allocation for health sector in the province. Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education shall be earmarked Rs 16 billion under ADP 2018-19, Rs 17.600 billion under ADP 2019-20 and Rs 19.360 billion under ADP 2020-21. Primary and Secondary Healthcare shall be earmarked Rs 16 billion under ADP 2018-19, Rs 28.793 billion under ADP 2019-20 and Rs 32.160 billion under ADP 2020-21.

Therefore, in the next three fiscal years from 2018-19 to 2020-21, a total of Rs 105.765 billion development budget will be allocated for health sector including Rs 52.960 billion for Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education and Rs 52.805 billion for Primary & Secondary Healthcare. For the ongoing financial year of 2018-19, the Punjab government has allocated Rs 16 billion each for 83 schemes of Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education and 149 schemes of Primary and Secondary Healthcare.