KARACHI: The Sindh government has allocated Rs214.547 billion for health services in the 2023-24 budget.

The allocation for health services includes grant-in-aid /single line grants amounting to Rs85.161bn to different institutes, trusts, and non-profit organisations for the welfare of the poor.

The government has enhanced grants for several healthcare facilities in the province; Rs15.316bn for Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT); Rs6bn grant for Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jeelani Institute, Gambat; Rs3.1bn for Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma, Karachi; Rs1.85bn for Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Science Sehwan Sharif, Jamshoro; Rs4bn grant for Indus Hospital Karachi; and Rs7.196bn for Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

Apart from this, the government plans to take several measures to ensure the provision of free healthcare services at JPMC. This includes increasing its admission capacity from 1,100 beds to 2,208 and creating over 2,000 new posts.

The grant from the Patients Aid Foundation at JPMC Karachi has been increased from Rs240 million to Rs 640m. An amount of Rs1.095bn has been allocated for the installation and procurement of one more cyber knife system, and a recurring grant of Rs200m has been allocated for a robotic surgical system.

The government has also announced to allocate funds of Rs60m for bone marrow transplantation at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Karachi, whereas funds of Rs200m are being provided as grants to the Kidney Centre, Karachi.

An amount of Rs12.750bn has been kept for primary health care activities through the People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) by the Sindh health department.

“A grant of Rs750m has been allocated for the Sindh Institute of Endoscopy and Gastroenterology at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK). Moreover, the government has allocated Rs.205m for the provision of free dialysis at different institutes,” Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said in his speech.

Free child healthcare

In an effort to ensure free treatment for children, Rs2.612bn has been allocated as a grant-in-aid for four children’s healthcare institutes.

The government has increased the grant for the Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology from Rs200m to Rs300m. It has committed Rs453.625m to combat child stunting and malnutrition under the Accelerated Action Plan (Agriculture Sector).

The CM informed the lawmakers that the government has outsourced operations of children’s emergency services to the Child Life Foundation at nine government hospitals, including Civil Hospital,National Institute of Child Health (NICH), Sindh Government Hospital Korangi-5, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH), Lyari General Hospital, Peoples Medical College, Nawabshah, Chandka Medical College (CMC), Larkana Hospital, Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College (GMMMC), Sukkur, and Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro.

The government, he said, has allocated Rs10.102bn with a net increase of six per cent for nine operational vertical programmes. An amount of Rs434m has been kept as a grant-in-aid to 13 institutes and non organisations (NGOs) for free treatment of thalassemia.

Medical education component increased

An amount of Rs13.252bn has been kept for the medical education component. Stipend rates have been enhanced, and increased slots for postgraduates and house job officers at universities have been created.

Funds of Rs4.162bn have been allocated as grant-in-aid for five medical universities, including Jinnah Sindh Medical University Karachi (JSMU), Dow University of Health & Sciences (DUHS), and Peoples University of Medical & Health Sciences for Women, Shaheed Benazirabad.

An amount of Rs.265.93m has been allocated for the Directorate of Mobile Diagnostic and Emergency Healthcare Services’ operational activities.

Under collaboration between the government and the World Bank, the National Health Support Programme (NHSP) has been launched to provide health coverage to the underprivileged masses.

Last year, the government spent over Rs233bn on providing state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure and running programmes for the prevention and control of diseases.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2023