- Health Ministry says Rs 11.515m approved for Bloomberg-backed project
The fate of the National Tobacco Control Cell of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSR&C) is hang in balance due to non-release of a single penny for the much-needed programme in the current fiscal year.
On anonymity, a Health Ministry official told Pakistan Today that Rs 11.515 million was approved for the tobacco programme; but not a penny has been released by the Planning Ministry. Due to the government’s indifference attitude towards the programme, the fate of the Bloomberg-funded Tobacco Control Cell was quite uncertain, he said.
The official said that despite approval of the fund for the programme and clear directives from Bloomberg to the ministry concerned to take the ownership of the programme, the government did not release any fund in the PSDP.
The government signed the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) in May 2004 and ratified it in the same year. So he said that under the Article 5.2 of the FCTC, the parties to the said treaty were mandated to put in place proper and effective national coordination mechanism for multi-sectoral coordination of the tobacco control efforts.
In order to fulfill obligations under the Article 5.2 of FCTC, the Tobacco Control Cell was created in the Ministry of Health on July 1, 2007, under the director general (implementation), as part of non-development budget aimed at reducing prevalence of tobacco use by taking administrative, legislative and coordination measures for implementation of the FCTC articles.
He said that since Pakistan was signatory to FCTC, hence it was mandatory for it to form the cell at the national level; however, due to lack of interest of the government, the fate of the programme was at stake instead.
According to the documents, it is directed to convey the administrative approval for the project tilted National Tobacco Control Cell at a total cost of Rs 11.515 million in pursuance of the Department Development Working Party (DDWP) meeting held on February 21, 2017 under the chairmanship of the health secretary in Islamabad.
The implementation period of the project may be considered from March 2017 onward for one year. In this regard, it is requested that the necessary action regarding allocation and release of funds amounting to Rs 11.515 million may kindly be taken at the earliest for the subject project accordingly.
According to the breakup of the costs, 0.100 million rupees would be spent on the purchase of furniture, 0.968 million rupees for the development of printing material, 0.951 million rupees for the capacity-building and meetings, 8.616 million rupees for pay and allowances, 0.060 million rupees for utility charges (phone, fax etc), DSL charges, Rs 0.120 million for stationery, 0.060 million rupees for printing and photocopy and 0.400 million rupees would be spent on monitoring.
The official further said that there were 11 members of the Tobacco Cell when it first formed back in July 1 2007 across the country. However, the number now reduced to three only, as the Bloomberg has already fired eight members working at districts level. He said that three members who were left behind at the centre could also be fired anytime if the situation remained the same, as Bloomberg could stop funding anytime.
The official said that despite the rising death caused by the tobacco use, the government paid no heed to the project. “State minister for health and secretary made their all-out efforts to get the approved fund, but the Planning Ministry did not release the promised funds for the programme due to the reason best known to the ministry high-ups,” he lamented.
However, the official said that the problem could even be solved now if the Planning Ministry re-appropriated the fund. According to the Ministry of Health Statistics, about 100,000 people die annually in Pakistan due to tobacco use. The official statistics showed that in Pakistan, an average 300 people died daily due to tobacco use; whereas around 1200 children aged ranging from six to 15 started smoking daily.
Globally each year, more than seven million people die from tobacco use of which over 80% of these deaths occur in low- or middle-income countries. When this scribe contacted, Health Secretary Ayub Sheikh confirmed that the Planning Ministry did not release the promised amount for the current year. However, he expressed optimism that the ministry would be convinced to release the fund, as they were in constant touch with the ministry in this regard.