ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved “Emergency Plan for Polio Eradication (3rd revised)” at a cost of US$ 1,784.93 million on Monday.
The meeting presided over by the caretaker Federal Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar considered and approved project of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination titled “Emergency Plan for Polio Eradication (3rd revised)” at a cost of US$ 1,784.93 million including grant from GPEI partners of US$ 1,197.93 million, Islamic Development Bank loan of US$ 552 million, and AFD loan of US$ 35 million.
The meeting was informed the ECNEC considered the summary of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives titled, “Emergency Plan for Polio Eradication (3rd Revised) dated 6th July 2023 at a total cost of US$ 1,784.90 million all foreign aid subject to compliance of the CDWP decisions of Para-16 and observations at para-19.
Punjab all set to launch polio-eradication campaign
According to the proposal, para 16 states that provinces shall prepare their own PC-Is within one year so that further ownership of the programme implementation may be shifted to the provinces with their own responsibility to acquire loan and liability to pay back directly; and the provincial PC-Is will explicitly depict share of loan of each of the province which shall be relent to the provinces from the very outset of implementation of the PC-Is.
The para 19 of the summary states that in order to achieve the objective of polio eradication and Polio free Pakistan, there is need to review and revise the implementation strategy whereby the provincial and sub-provincial health departments, instead of UNICEF and WHO, are made optimally inclusive in implementation of project interventions and consequently the provinces are made more accountable. This also necessitates formulation of provincial PC-Is by the respective health departments and their approval by the provincial PDWPs before onward consideration and approval by the federal government.
Meanwhile during the interim, the Umbrella Federal PC-I may continue for a period of one year to avoid interruption of services as decided by the CDWP.
The project will supply polio eradication vaccines all over Pakistan and will be executed by WHO and UNICEF. The ECNEC after discussion extended the duration of umbrella PC-1 of the project to three years with authorisation to EAD to enter into loan agreements to finance the project on behalf of Govt. of Pakistan to achieve the objectives of eradication of Polio and make polio free Pakistan.
The ECNEC requested Planning Commission and Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination to provide project/programme evaluation of Polio Eradication programme and integrated lesson learnt in implementation of Phase–III.
The ECNEC also directed that a committee co-chaired by the Secretary Finance and Secretary EAD to examine the re-lending arrangements with provinces for funding of project of similar nature with clear recommendation to ensure proper implementation of the projects.
The meeting was attended by Sami Saeed, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Minister for Communications, Maritime Affairs and Railways, Muhammad Ali, Minister for Power and Petroleum, Ahmad Rasool Bangash Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Excise and Taxation KPK, Muhammad Younas Dhaga Minister for Finance, Revenue Sindh Government, Amjad Rasheed, Minister for Finance and Revenue Balochistan, federal secretaries, and other senior officers from federal ministries and provincial departments.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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