World Bank signs USD 100 million Health Care Deal for Uttarakhand

World Bank signs USD 100 million Health Care Deal for Uttarakhand The World Bank on 23 March 2017 signed a USD 100 million credit agreement with the Union Government and Uttarakhand to improve quality of healthcare services in all 13 districts of Uttarakhand. The agreement for the project was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Finance; Neeraj Kharwal, Project Director for the Uttarakhand Health Systems and World Bank India Operations Manager and Acting Country Director Hisham Abdo Kahin. The project aims to reduce the financial risk for its citizens and make affordable and quality health care available to all. It will also strengthen the government’s ability to effectively engage with the private sector to pursue the innovations planned under this project. The loan will be from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank with a maturity of 25 years, including a 5-year grace period. Background Most public health facilities in the middle and upper mountainous areas of Uttarakhand are unable to function optimally because of large-scale vacancies of health staff. In 2013, 48 per cent of the posts of general duty medical officers and 75 per cent of the specialists posts were vacant in the state despite a liberal government policy to hire contractual doctors.