LAHORE: The World Bank’s Implementation Support Mission for the National Health Support Programme (NHSP) Punjab has concluded a special session, endorsing a restructuring plan aimed at accelerating reforms in primary healthcare across the province.
Chaired by Dr Jahanzeb Hussain Labar, Additional Secretary (Vertical Programs)/Project Director NHSP, the session brought together NHSP leadership and World Bank experts to assess progress on Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs 1–11), evaluate environmental and social safeguards, review financial and procurement performance, and finalize the programme’s restructuring paper.
Dr Jahanzeb informed the mission that inputs for establishing Level-I Newborn Nursery Care units at 44 Rural Health Centers (RHCs)—one in each district—have been formally notified and will become operational this year. The initiative aims to lower neonatal morbidity and mortality by enhancing timely care in underserved areas. An integrated Referral Management System has also been developed to better connect primary healthcare centers with higher-level institutions, while a feedback mechanism for Emergency Medical Records (EMR) is being readied for rollout across Punjab.
In the fight against tuberculosis, Dr Jahanzeb detailed the establishment of integrated TB screening clinics at RHCs, which will offer sputum microscopy, Xpert MTB/RIF testing, chest X-rays, and clinical evaluations. These clinics are expected to detect an additional 56,000 TB cases annually, strengthening Punjab’s TB control efforts.
Further updates highlighted efforts to expand immunization coverage, improve the Health Information System, implement the Community Health Inspector (CHI) model for outreach in remote areas, and launch a Learning Management System (LMS) to standardize healthcare training.
The Implementation Support Mission was led by Manav Bhattarai, Task Team Leader and Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank, and included specialists from the World Bank and Global Financing Facility (GFF) across multiple disciplines such as health systems, procurement, finance, environment, and social development. Senior NHSP officials including DPD Dr Fawad Ahmed Iftikhar, OBB Umaid Faisal, FMS Khalil-ur-Rehman, and Communication Specialist Karamat Ali participated in the review.
The session concluded with consensus between the World Bank team and NHSP leadership on restructuring the programme to enhance performance, expand service delivery, and deepen health impact at the primary care level throughout Punjab.
