Karachi: The Sindh government has decided to close an emergency fund it established three years AGO to make special arrangements for fighting the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision to this effect was reached at the meeting of the Sindh cabinet with Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in the chair.
The hallmark of the provincial emergency fund was that a committee comprising renowned names of the charity world and private sector was established to ensure that money available in it is spent in a completely transparent and accountable manner.
Sindh Chief Secretary was head of the committee and provincial Finance Secretary, Mushtaq Chhapra of Patients’ Aid Foundation, Faisal Edhi of Edhi Foundation, and Dr Abdul Bari Khan of Indus Hospital were its members.
The cabinet meeting was informed that from March 18, 2020, to April 21, 2021, the committee met 17 times to decide affairs related to sanctioning the release of funds for making special healthcare arrangements against the spread of coronavirus in Sindh.
A total sum of Rs3,312.93 million was available in the fund and against it a total expenditure of Rs3,277.23 million was carried out by the Sindh government. The cabinet was briefed that an amount of over Rs35 million was still available in the fund. The cabinet authorised to use of the remaining money for the reconstruction of houses of the homeless flood victims in Sindh.
The government initially provided a sum of Rs1 billion to establish the emergency fund. The CM, his cabinet colleagues, and members of the Sindh Assembly belonging to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party donated their one month’s salary to the fund.
The CM appealed to the concerned philanthropists and citizens to generously donate to the fund to help his government take special precautions against the coronavirus.
Soon after its establishment, Shah received a cheque of Rs one million as a donation to the fund from an anonymous 88-year-old donor.
The emergency fund was one of the main highlights of the government’s special arrangements at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 as that included the enhanced capability of the public healthcare facilities to diagnose, isolate, and treat coronavirus patients.
