Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $100 million loan deal for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Systems Strengthening Program on Friday.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dr. Kazim Niaz, and Country Director of the Pakistan Resident Mission, Yong Ye A, signed the financing agreement. The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and ADB also signed a programme agreement to put the programme into action in the province.
A press release from the ministry says that Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the Minister for Economic, Political, and Law and Justice, was also at the signing ceremony.
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According to the details, the results-based loan programme would help improve the delivery of health services at secondary hospitals by modernising infrastructure and equipment; ensuring clinical protocols, standards, and guidelines are implemented; and improving human resources planning and medicine supply chain management.
The goal of the programme is to change Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s secondary healthcare (SHC) system by improving the infrastructure of 33 existing SHC facilities, giving them better equipment, and making sure that medical, technical, and administrative staff are in place and available.
It would also make sure that some services were outsourced to the private sector in an effective way, that health management information systems, like electronic medical records, were set up and improved, and that quality assurance systems were put in place.
The programme would help about 38 million people, including women who need services for mothers’ health. It would also lower the death rates of babies and mothers.
In October 2022, the Ministry of Economic Affairs also signed a deal with the Asian Development Bank for US$1.5 billion. In addition, US$475 million are being redirected from other projects to fix and rebuild infrastructure damaged by floods in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq spoke at the event and said that the federal government was still committed to helping the provinces “Build back Better” after the flood by getting concessional financing from the international development part
