PESHAWAR: Leader of the Opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan on Wednesday expressed his reservations about transparency in Sehat Ka Insaf and questioned the Unicef and World Bank-led multilateral donors for keeping mum over misuse of the health money for political ends.

In an open letter, the opposition leader said that questions had been raised over transparency in the award of contract for publicity of Sehat Ka Insaf. Referring to a letter by the KP minister for finance, Sardar Mehtab said that the KP government was unaware of the source of funding, its mechanism and utilisation.

He said that Unicef in total disregard of neutrality and transparency had allowed the ruling political party to use the child healthcare initiative for its own political publicity campaign. He had asked that Unicef should clarify its position and inform public as to whose account was being used for the transfer of funds, who was supervising the media publicity campaign and whether Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules had been implemented and bidding taken place for the advertising campaign.

He said that it was ironic that an international health organisation would allow itself to become a party to a political campaign in such a manner. He said that the amount was being spent on the directions of the Islamabad-based leadership of the ruling party in KP.

Referring to media reports, the PML-N leader also questioned the silence of the World Bank-led multilateral donors over attempts by certain political quarters to influence the award of contract of basic health units, rural health centres and tehsil headquarters. He said that the WB, in keeping its reputation, should stick to its rules of transparency and ensure that the biddings took place in accordance with rules.