President meets with MoPH leadership, discusses capacity building to fight Covid-19

KABUL (Agencies): President Ghani presided over a meeting with the leadership of the Public Health Ministry and talked over capacity building approaches to help the ministry deal with the spread of covid-19 at the Presidential Palace.

According to the reports, Minster of Public Health Dr. Ferozuddin Feroz said the ministry is combating the spread of coronavirus along with providing its regular health services to the citizens and shared his recommendations particularly on expedition of procurement processes in a time the country is facing the threat of a pandemic disease.

He asked for building further coordination with the international organizations on fighting the coronavirus spread.

First Vice-President Amrullah Saleh articulated the government’s measures for curbing the spread of corona including budget allotment to provinces to deal with the disease and delegation of disbursement authorities to the governors.

The first vice president proposed arranging a meeting, where provincial governors and international organizations representatives can attend to contribute to enhancing coordination among them.

Second Vice President Sarwar Danesh proposed formation of a proficient national commission as one authorized body to be responsive for the measures on combating covid-19, underlining that an additional temporary structure in the ministry would contribute to effectively fight the pandemic.

The president said, spread of covid-19 has posed a serious threat to the country and combating the threat requires further coordination and collaboration.

The president instructed that a meeting should be set with the National Procurement Authority to accelerate procurement processes, and said in case of emergency, the responsibility could be assumed to the Operational Unit of the Presidential Palace.

President Ghani said as the provincial governors are authorized to spend their allocated budget on fighting corona, certain spending authorities should be delegated to the provincial public health directors to be able to spend money in a framework that can ensure transparency and accountability.

The president highlighted that the current structure of the ministry does not meet the healthcare services requirement and the ministry should present its recommendation on establishment of an emergency structure to be able to work in the capital and provinces. He added that a working team should be ready to deal with the consequences of corona after the risk is over. The president highlighted that coordination with the international organizations is a need and asked the officials of the ministry of public health to present their plan on recruitment of volunteers.