EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Can Cost-effective Reallocation of Inputs Increase the Efficiency of the Public Health System in Pakistan?

M. Aynul Hasan, Hafiz A. Pasha and Ajaz M. Rasheed
Additional contact information
M. Aynul Hasan: Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Hafiz A. Pasha: Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.
Ajaz M. Rasheed: Social Policy and Development Centre, Karachi.

The Pakistan Development Review, 1997, vol. 36, issue 4, 669-693

Abstract: Heavy investment in many developing countries in the social sector including health is based on the premise that human capital is vital to the growth and development of a nation. However, Pakistan's spending on this sector has been one of the lowest in the region. In the present environment of high budget deficits, one does not expect substantial public funds to be forthcoming and diverted towards the social sector in the intermediate- or medium-term future. The critical issue facing the public sector should then be to design health policies which must be cost-effective and efficient. This study examines these health policy issues within the context of an optimisation framework for public health system, forecasts future upto (2002-03) and discusses an efficient optimal mix of health inputs, outputs, expenditures, and wage policies under alternative scenarios. The study recommends that, first, growth of health infrastructure building in the urban areas be slowed down in the short-term (two to three years), and some of the resources reallocated towards the rural sector either in terms of building new Basic Health Units or upgrading the existing Rural Health Centres. Second, not only attractive wage policies be formulated for health personnel, but the status of nurses in the public health system be also elevated by giving them higher grades. Third, for every rupee of development expenditure incurred, Public Health Department must plan or keep provisions for recurring outlays. All this reallocation of resources is feasible within the projected actual budget and it will lead to efficiency gains in the order of 8 to 10 percent for the entire public health system.

Date: 1997
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/PDR/1997/Volume4/669-693.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pid:journl:v:36:y:1997:i:4:p:669-693

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Pakistan Development Review from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Khurram Iqbal ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:pid:journl:v:36:y:1997:i:4:p:669-693