ISLAMABAD, June 6: A record amount of Rs11 billion has been earmarked for development of health sector in the 2006-07 federal budget, indicating a 17 per cent increase over the preceding year allocation of Rs9.4 billion.

In the public sector development programme (PSDP) 2006-07, Rs10.5 billion would be generated from domestic resources while Rs440 million will be foreign assistance.

“Duties on diagnostic equipment and medicines for treatment of cancer, HIV/Aids and Thalassaemia are being waived,” Omar Ayub Khan, state Minister for Finance announced while presenting the budget in the NA on Monday.

The total estimated cost of 105 different projects under PSDP for the health sector is Rs100 billion, of which Rs16.2 billion have already been spent, whereas Rs84.4 billion is carried forward. Fifty-five of these projects are new and will cost Rs2.5 billion.

A Rs360 million joint fund will be set up to buy 64 slice helical CT (computer tomography) scan angiography equipment for the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi, the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad.

Similarly, an amount of Rs200 million has been earmarked for replacement and purchase of equipment for the NICVD. An amount of Rs290 million will be utilised on making the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Federal Hospital, Quetta operational.

Rs150 million will be spent on establishment of Institute of Neurosurgery in the JPMC Karachi. The total cost of the project is Rs325.7 million.

For an emergency ancillary services complex at the Civil Hospital Karachi, an amount of Rs150 million has been reserved in the 2006-07 budget while the total size of the project is Rs1.4 billion.

Rs107 million have been allocated for purchase of 1.5-Tesla MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines for five hospitals of the NWFP. The total size of the scheme is Rs530 million.

Rs100 million will be spent on provision of MRI and CT scanners for the Civil Hospital Karachi, the Chandka Medical College, Larkana, the People Medical College, Nawabshah and the Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad/Jamshoro.

For prevention and control of Avian Influenza, Rs50 million have been allocated in the budget of next fiscal.

The Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences will be upgraded and equipped at a cost of Rs100 million. Another Rs100 million will be spent under the Rs32 billion national maternal neo-natal and child health programme during the next financial year and Rs50 billion on establishment of a 50-bed hospital in District Kohlu under the Kohlu package.