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The World Bank has stepped forward in lending to health sector in India. Three projects totaling US$ 662 million, which were held up for more than a year, have now been approved by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank.
The projects cover two in the Central sector, namely, Reproductive and Child Health-II Project (US$ 350 million) and National Tuberculosis Control Project-II (US$ 170 million). The third project for US$ 142 million is the Karnataka Health Systems Development and Reform Project.
The approval of these projects has come after intensive efforts were made to clarify any misgivings that the World Bank may have had. The commitment to have fully transparent procurement processes that conform to the highest standards was emphasized by the Finance Minister in his dialogue with the World Bank President. He also emphasized that delay by the Bank in sanctioning these projects is gravely hurting the delivery of health services to poor people in the country. To give comfort to the Bank, a Governance and Accountability Action Plan was jointly drafted to bring about greater transparency in the procurement processes in the health sector.
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It is heartening that the approval of India's health sector projects received unanimous support of all the Executive Directors in the Board. They not only praised the pro-poor programmes of the Indian Government and its achievements and importance of the health project in attaining the millennium development goals (MDGs) but also the strong commitment shown by India in addressing concerns arising out of the issues raised in the implementation of the health sector projects.
In fact, many expressed concern at the delay on the part of the World Bank in approving these projects which, they felt, would have some adverse impact.
The recent approval will act help to the country's economic development through the creation of social overhead capital.
Source: PIB
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