Budget allocation for health stressed

LAHORE
The health experts have urged the government to allocate need-based budget to focus on specific health issues such as mother and child health and nutrition instead of allocating out-of-focus budget for health sector in Punjab.
“It is extremely important to address issues of mother and child health and malnourishment by allocating need-based budget, which will help achieve health targets under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are likely to be missed before cut-off date by the end of 2015,” said Prof Yasmin Rashid, renowned gynaecologist and senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while addressing a district-based consultation session on “Mothers and Child Health and Nutrition” under an organisation at Lahore Press Club on Wednesday. GEO TV anchor Talat Hussain moderated the session.
Yasmin said Pakistan was lagging far behind in achieving targets under MDGs through worst indicators of mother and child health, which was a great embarrassment for the country. “A total of 276 out of 100,000 mothers die due to pregnancy related complications,” she said, adding that high maternal mortality ratio was one of the reasons of deaths of children under the age of five years. Therefore, neonates’ survival is associated with the survival of mothers. She said that at least 50 per cent of all mothers in Pakistan were anemic, whereas 47 per cent of all children have stunted growth due to malnutrition.
Yasmin also criticized the Punjab government’s ever-changing policies to improve functioning of primary and secondary healthcare, saying that Punjab government had experimented with a pilot project to allocate districts to medical colleges, which proved to be a success through visible improvement in functioning of BHUs, RHCs and THQ hospitals in those districts over time. “The Punjab government has shelved this successful model and trying various new experiments like outsourcing of health facilities, incentives to doctors for serving in remote areas or sending consultants on rotation basis,” she said, adding that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in the habit of reinventing the wheel. She urged the government to allocate 21 medical colleges of Punjab one district each, which will not only improve the primary and secondary healthcare but also overcome the shortage of faculty in medical institutions of Punjab.
Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said the Punjab government was trying to strengthen primary and secondary healthcare, adding that doctors’ availability had been ensured in approximately 67 per cent of health facilities and doing its best to address the issue of doctors’ availability in remaining 33 per cent of the health institutions in Punjab.
The Punjab Health Department has posted 210 specialists against the need of 650 specialists in Basic Health Units (BHUs). It has completed pilot project of functioning of 150 BHUs round the clock, which will be extended up to 720 BHUs in the province.
He said Punjab had achieved maximum EPI coverage as there had neither reported any polio case nor any casualty due to measles this year in Punjab.
While highlighting the key issues, Senior Media and Policy Advisor EVA BHN project Ihtasham Akram said that Pakistan was off track in achieving MDGs related to mother and child health. Besides other reasons, he opined that people were reluctant in demanding health and quality service delivery as their right and holding responsible authorities to account.
The PPP Punjab information secretary and others were also present.