The government of Andhra Pradesh and the World Bank Executive have signed a loan agreement of $ 328 million to help improve the quality and responsiveness of public health services in Andhra Pradesh.

The World Bank loan will support the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) as it scales up its efforts to bring better health care to all its citizens, especially pregnant women and those at risk of non-communicable diseases, like hypertension, diabetes and cervical cancer.

The loan agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; Shanker Lal, Acting Country Director, World Bank India and Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, Principal Secretary, Department of Health, Medical & Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The project will facilitate engagement of private service providers for improved quality of care of public health facilities;, improve the existing pharmaceutical stock management system and encourage empanelment of private pharmacies to dispense state-financed medicines to improve their access to the population. It will also support the rollout of a system for measuring and reporting on patient experience.