KP's air ambulance project faces delay amid funds shortage

• Committee requested finance dept to disburse funds: focal person.
• Finance adviser says funds to be released after health dept's summary.
• KP CM ordered to launch of air ambulance service in 4 months.

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government is facing a shortage of funds to launch its air ambulance project to help people in remote and inaccessible areas reach hospitals on time, failing to meet a four-month deadline set by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

CM Gandapur had ordered the launch of the air ambulance service in four months in April this year besides seeking a new health policy in one month to revamp the entire health sector along modern lines.

The KP government allocated funds for the air ambulance projects in the provincial budget, however, the provincial finance department has not yet disbursed them, sources privy to the development told Geo News.

It emerged that the funds would be utilised to modify the KP government's helicopter for its use as an air ambulance, the sources added.

Khursheed Khan, Focal Person on KP's Air Ambulance Committee, told Geo News that they requested the finance department to disburse funds and donors were waiting for the project's launch.

He added that federal and provincial institutions and the Pakistan Army extended full cooperation for the air ambulance project.

Meanwhile, Adviser to CM on Finance Muzammil Aslam said in a statement that the government would immediately release funds after receiving a summary from the health department.

The government had disbursed Rs16 billion funds to the health department during the past five months, he added.

Alongside air ambulance service, the KP chief executive had also approved a series of funds for improving the province’s healthcare system, including the Motorbike Response Unit, Health Information and Service Delivery Unit, and Hayatabad Healthcare City, besides other projects including the Executive Health Checkup Programme, the upgradation of Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospitals, and fair-price pharmacy shops in District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospitals.

He also asked the health department to work out all the requirements for strengthening the public sector hospitals across the province within one month's time so that the required financial resources could be allocated to the provincial budget.

Last month, the Sindh government launched a free air ambulance service for emergency evacuation of patients from Ghotki, Sukkur and Khairpur to Karachi.

Additionally, the Punjab government began its first-ever air ambulance service in July.