$108 Million to Upgrade and Maintain Health Facilities

A total of $108.8 million has been allotted to maintain and upgrade health facilities in the 2007/2008 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.
A breakdown of the allocation will see $50 million going toward the health facilities improvement programme, which is an ongoing project for maintaining and upgrading the buildings and equipment of health care institutions; $38.8 million for the Disease Prevention and Control project, which was developed to initiate and maintain measures such as the surveillance of water supplies, the food trade and sewage disposal systems; $10 million for the procurement of medical equipment for selected hospitals and other health care institutions; and $10 million has been provided to facilitate repairs to the Bellevue Hospital.
Also an allocation of $4 million has been made for Project Inner City (FOCUS), which is geared towards the prevention and control of drug abuse.
This allocation is to continue the necessary establishment of infrastructure within five rural and urban communities, and develop self-sustained, integrated and demand-reduction programmes as part of a concerted effort to effectively reduce the demand for drugs. The provision is also to facilitate various workshops and to cover administrative expenses.
In addition, a total of $8 million was also provided for the National Registration (Preparatory) Unit to continue the development of multipurpose identity cards with numbers to facilitate voter registration, taxation, social security services, registration of births, deaths and marriages.