{
  "id": 7675978,
  "title": "Sindh health minister advocates sustainable expansion of EPHS",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/sindh-health-minister-advocates-sustainable-expansion-of-ephs",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-16T00:59:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Recorder",
    "slug": "business-recorder",
    "url": "https://www.brecorder.com/news/40439640/sindh-health-minister-advocates-sustainable-expansion-of-ephs"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, Sindh Health Minister, has urged the expansion of the Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) model beyond Tando Allahyar. She emphasized the importance of sustainability from the outset, voicing these opinions during a province-wide symposium held at the Aga Khan University. The symposium, supported by the Gates Foundation, marked two years of implementing EPHS in Tando Allahyar. Dr. Pechuho sought a scalable and sustainable model to prevent the collapse of interventions once support ceases. The symposium gathered government officials, development partners, and frontline health workers to evaluate progress and discuss scaling EPHS in Sindh's rural districts. Tando Allahyar, with a population of nearly one million, has been the pilot district for EPHS, a 62-intervention care package delivered across community, primary, and first-level hospital settings. Since its inception, the district achieved significant milestones, such as daily digital health reporting, opening a Specialized Care Nursery, training Lady Health Workers, and introducing general anesthesia services. The symposium's sessions addressed clinical guidelines development, costing analysis, and behavior-change initiatives. Prof. Dr. Sameen Siddiqi highlighted that the district's training and service coverage groundwork laid the foundation for accountable, evidence-based scaling to other Sindh districts and Pakistan.",
  "summary": "KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister, Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, has called for scaling up the Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) model beyond Tando Allahyar. She said that sustainability should be built into the programme from the outset. She expressed these views while addressing a province-wide symposium convened by the Aga Khan University (AKU) in partnership with the Sindh Department of…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}