The provincial health sector will not have any new development scheme in the next fiscal year, as the Health Department has not proposed any such plan for the upcoming budget, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the decision will be reflected in the upcoming budget. The Health Department recently abolished all seven project management units (PMUs), leaving important medical projects in limbo.
Moreover, there are a number of other healthcare schemes which have not been completed despite a lapse of many years. A senior Health Department official, seeking anonymity, said new development schemes always depended upon the availability of finances.
He said the department has decided to complete the pending schemes instead of proposing new ones. He said the department has envisaged almost 65 pending schemes which will be completed in the next fiscal year and all funding will go to such schemes. He said Rs 500 million has been reserved for unplanned schemes, in case there was a need for any new scheme.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), in a press briefing, deplored the budgetary lapse of Rs 1.2 billion in the current fiscal year, while the Health Department officials complained of financial constraints.
On the other hand, Health Secretary Jehanzaib Khan said it was not ‘appropriate’ to comment on the budget before it was presented in the assembly. He, however, said the department has decided to complete the pending and ongoing schemes instead of proposing new ones.