The Hindu : WB aid for health project for two more years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

WB aid for health project for two more years

By Nagesh Prabhu

BANGALORE JAN. 11. The World Bank has extended credit for the Rs. 595 crore Karnataka Health System Development Project (KHSDP)-II for two more years from March 31, 2002.

In a progress review report dated November 11, 2002, submitted to the State Principal Secretary of Health, A.K.M. Nayak, and the KHSDP Administrator, Mahendra Jain, the World Bank Country Director, Michael Cater, said the extended period of the project should be used to consolidate several software components. The bank had asked the KHSDP officials to focus on issues such as strengthening institutional capacity for better service delivery; re-commissioning facilities created under the project, including installation and utilisation of equipment; and addressing skill mismatches and staff vacancies in different hospitals in an imaginative way.

An International Development Association (IDA) team comprising T. Nawaz (mission leader), P. Kudesia, and S. Rao Sheshadri reviewed the implementation of the KHSDP-II between September 25 and 29, 2002, and held discussions with Mr. Mahendra Jain and senior staff members of the the KHSDP in Bangalore and New Delhi.

The progress report said: "Over the course of the past year, the implementation has been fully satisfactory, and the project continues to make considerable progress in management and software areas.'' Under the KHSDP, civil works had been completed at 183 hospitals of the 204 hospitals in Bangalore, Mysore, and Belgaum divisions. The project activities were being integrated with the programmes of the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare (DOHFW) in the areas of contracts for non-clinical services, disease surveillance, and implementation of the yellow card scheme. To make the project more sustainable, the bank has suggested to the KHSDP staff to strengthen software components, particularly information, education, and communication (IEC).

Speaking to The Hindu, the KHSDP Officer, R. Maheswarappa, said that the project was commissioned in 1996-97 with the objective of improving the performance and quality of health care services at the district and sub-district level of the health care system. Till November 2002, the cumulative expenditure under the project was Rs. 543 crore (89 per cent of the total cost), he said, and added that 380 vehicles, including 118 ambulances, were provided to secondary hospitals.

The bank is less satisfied with the award of contracts for a set of non-clinical services and waste management. The World Bank Report, "Raising the sights: Better health systems for India's poor — 2001'', said that for better performance and compliance, it would be necessary to strengthen the capacity of hospital staff to supervise work and provide training to those working in more complex areas of waste management.

The KHSDP Chief Administrative Officer, Rajshekar, said the staff members were aware of the problems in waste management, and steps would be taken soon to solve them.

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