The Board of Governors of University of Health Sciences (UHS) which met here on Monday with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the chair has approved Rs 895.700 million budget of the university for the financial year 2016-17. The 36th meeting of the UHS board was attended by Professor Malik Hussain Mubbashar, Zarine Aziz, UHS Vice Chancellor Major General Professor Muhammad Aslam (retd) and other members of the board comprising representatives of provincial Health and Finance departments.
Addressing the meeting, Ishaq Dar said the government has increased the budgetary allocations for health and education sectors. He urged the university authorities to maintain high standard in the field of medical education so that the government could improve service delivery and provide better and affordable medical facilities to the common man.
Dar further said although the government was focusing primarily on "three Es" (economy, energy and extremism), but it has increased the budgetary allocation for health and education sectors. He added that health sector is one of the top most priorities of the present government.
The UHS VC apprised the BoG of the progress of the university during last one year with special focus on Kala Shah Kaku Campus on which the work was taken at hand. The board members were also informed that the UHS had maintained its position in Higher Education Commission's Ranking 2015 and was among the top 10 universities of Pakistan. He said the UHS had been given a lead role in higher education Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF)-III with regards to capacity-building in dental, nursing and allied health sciences.
As per budget estimates of the UHS for 2016-17, Rs 41.500 million have been earmarked for research purposes. Out of it, Rs 15 million have been allocated for grant of scholarship to research scholars, Rs 5 million for purchase of chemicals, reagents, glassware and specialised kits, and Rs 21 million have been allocated for lab equipment and machinery.
An amount of Rs 0.5 million will be spent on research surveys and exploratory operations.
A sum of Rs 88.785 million has been allocated for operating expenses that includes utilities (Rs 15.300 million), communications (Rs 8.03 million), travel and transportation (Rs 11.155 million) and general expenses (Rs 53.700 million). Likewise, an amount of Rs 203.439 million has been reserved for employees' related expenses. An amount of Rs 454.620 million will be spent on development activities which include civil works at Kala Shah Kaku Campus (Rs 415 million), purchase of machinery (Rs 21 million), and furniture and fixture (Rs 8 million).
The UHS will spend Rs 104.00 million on the conduct of examinations and Rs 1.5 million on continued professional development of the medical faculty. A sum of Rs one million has been allocated for international linkages and Rs one million for the introduction of new academic programmes during the year 2016-17. The UHS board also approved 10 percent ad hoc relief allowance for university employees.
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