A meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved Rs450 million for the project designed for effective response against the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan.

On a summary moved by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSR&C), the ECC meeting presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin approved Rs450 million Technical Supplementary Grant (TGS) for the project namely, “Strengthening Existing Capacity for National Institute of Health for Effective Response Against Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan.”

The meeting was informed that the Ministry of NHSR&C sought to re-purpose the Australian grant towards the Preparedness and Response Plan for the COVID-19 for its efficient and effective utilisation.

Accordingly, a PC-1 for the project was prepared by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in May, 2021 with an estimated cost of Rs504 million for a period of six months.

Subsequently, the cost of the project was revised downward to Rs450 million equivalent to US$ 2.82 million by the CDWP in November 2021, the project aims at; (i) strengthening laboratory and diagnostic systems to ensure prompt case finding and local containment; (ii) surveillance increasing diagnostic and testing capacity; (iii) capacity building of healthcare providers in patient safety and; (iv) relationship with sectoral objectives.

The ECC was informed that a grant Implementation Agreement (G1A) has been signed between the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF), Ministry of NHSR&C whose clause 6.1 states that “the total cost of the project would be Pak Rs450 million and subject to the terms of this Agreement, the NDRMF agrees to provide 100 percent as grant financing to the Funds Implementation Partner (FIP) for the sole purpose of being utilized in the project.

The story was originally published in Business Recorder on February 26, 2022.