Despite the fact Pakistan remains one of the few regional countries to witness an increasing number of cases of HIV when the infections have drastically declined globally, the federal government has not yet released the much-delayed funds for government-run HIV centres.
Sources in Ministry for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) told Pakistan Today that owing to the non-provision of funds for the last ten months, the government-funded centres are unable to monitor and treat HIV/AIDS patients properly.
They said that the federal government did not release the funds since July 2016, due to which the performance of the programmes suffered badly—because the employees are taking no interest in their duty as they are struggling to make both ends meet.
They said that a total of 19 employees of National Aid Control Programme (NACP), including NACP Programme Manager Dr Abdul Baseer Khan Achakzai, were not paid a single penny during the last ten months, while the NACP even could not pay its rent of the building used on the premises of the National Institute of Health (NIH).
It is pertinent to mention here that the government’s share in the programme is mere 20 per cent, while 80 per cent is being provided through global funding.
The government is only providing funds for building, staffers, hospital and power and rent bills, whereas the rest of the expenses are covered by the Global Fund.
Despite the fact that National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination minister confirmed an increase in the incidence of HIV, the government did not release the meagre amount, which speaks volume of its apathy towards health sector, they added.
The ministry confirmed that the number of patients is increasing; the reason for this increase is the lack of prevention interventions, for the key populations, by the relevant quarters in HIV and AIDS response.
According to the data of Health Ministry, during the recently conducted HIV estimation/survey by National AIDS Control Programme under Ministry of NHSRC, there are approximately 133,299 HIV-positive people in the country in 2017.
It was said that more patients are being registered as a result of effective services and growing trust of the patients and communities in getting free of cost testing and treatment services.
“According to data received from 23 HIV treatment, 12 Prevention of Parents to Child Transmission (PPTCT) Centres and 20 Community Home Based Centres (CHBC), the total number of registered People Living with HIV (PLHIV) with NACP till end December 2016 are 18,440 PLHIV, while 8,888 are eligible for Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) based on WHO criteria.”
A senior official in the ministry of health wishing to go unnamed said that the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), in its meeting, presided over by Planning Development and Reforms Minister Ahsan Iqbal on March 9, 2017, approved the PC-1, giving them some hope that the issue might be resolved eventually; however, it further complicated the issue because afterwards all the three diseases—AIDS, TB and malaria—had been brought under one consolidation unit, which created an issue of signatory.
He said they sent a letter to the minister for the release of the long-pending salaries, but it was rejected on the ground that Dr Abdul Baseer Khan Achakzai was no longer authorised to sign the letter after the consolidation of the three programmes, despite the fact he headed two programmes.
The ministry, he said, asked the letter should be signed by Dr Nasir—head of TB programme instead, pleading due to his seniority.
He said that the planning ministry categorically conveyed that the amount should be withdrawn as soon as possible or else, once the time passed, they would not get the amount.
The official lamented that they have suffered the most due to the battle of high-ups, adding that the cases of HIV, obviously, would be surged when the doctors and other officials of the programme would not pay a penny; they were worried about feeding their children so how on earth could they perform their duty diligently.
Talking to Pakistan Today, a senior official said that the issue would remain unresolved until the decades-old system of planning ministry’s role in the release of funds is not ended.
Health Secretary Muhammad Ayub Sheikh’s response: “On the advice of Planning Commission, three programmes such as HIV-AIDS, TB and malaria were merged into a single project in the post-devolution scenario. The name of the new project is the ‘Common Unit to Manage Global Fund’. The project was approved at a cost of Rs167 million on March 9, 2017; administrative authorisation was received on April 14, 2017. The allocation of Rs50 million is available for FY 2016-17 and the case for the release of funds has been initiated.”
