Editorial
Non-starter HPSP
THE ambitious five-year Health and Population Sector Programme launched in July, 1998 to provide essential healthcare services to the 'most vulnerable' women and children under the same roof is gasping for breath after a good 18 months of existence. A report in The Daily Star on Monday revealed that absence of proper planning, training and orientation at all levels along with slow decision-making in financial and administrative matters, including frequent transfer of key officials, are seriously hampering the progress of the programme.
This has amply been demonstrated by the fact that only a single clinic has been set up during the last one and a half years out of a proposed 1250 community clinics needed to deliver the services in a unified manner. Yet the annual report on HPSP (1998-99) published recently calls it 'good progress'. This is nothing but a shameless claim made to cover up for the failures of the ministry concerned. The programme aims at providing reproductive healthcare, child healthcare and controlling communicable diseases under an Essential Service Package (ESP). This is vital for maintaining and improving rural healthcare system for the millions of people living without minimum healthcare facilities in the villages of Bangladesh.
The administrative and bureaucratic tangles have to be removed and a concerted effort made to implement this 15000-crore taka project regarded as key to healthcare for the vast majority of our people. We have had enough tall talks and empty promises from the political leaders and we believe it is time to call a halt to those rhetorics and get down to some real business.
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