The government of Pakistan (GoP) inked a financing agreement worth $100 million with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Systems Strengthening Program.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dr. Kazim Niaz, signed the financing agreement on behalf of the GoP, while Yong Ye, Country Director of the Pakistan Resident Mission, signed the agreement on behalf of the ADB.
A program agreement was also signed between the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and ADB for the implementation of the program in the province.
The results-based loan program will help improve the delivery of health services at secondary hospitals by modernizing infrastructure and equipment. It will also help ensure clinical protocols, standards, and guidelines are implemented, as well as improve human resources planning and medicine supply chain management.
The program aims to transform KP’s Secondary Healthcare (SHC) system by upgrading the infrastructure of 33 existing SHC facilities, providing quality equipment, ensuring the posting and availability of medical, technical, and administrative staff, efficient outsourcing of certain services to the private sector, introducing and enhancing health management information systems, including electronic medical records, and introducing quality assurance regimes.
The program will benefit an estimated 38 million people, including women in need of maternal healthcare services while reducing infant and maternal mortality rates.
In October 2022, the Ministry of Economic Affairs also signed $1.5 billion with the ADB, while $475 million is also being repurposed from the existing development for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood-affected infrastructure in Balochistan, KP, and Sindh.
Minister for Economic Affairs, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, reiterated the commitment of the federal government to help the provincial governments build back better in the post-flood scenario by arranging concessional financing from international development partners.
