Maravi

Govt to suspend health programmes to meet budget

Govt to suspend health programmes to meet budget
Written by Kabanda Chulu and Mwila Chansa
Friday, May 29, 2009 4:58:33 PM

HEALTH minister Kapembwa Simbao on Thursday said in the absence of donor support government will have to suspend less priority areas in order to meet the K16 billion monthly allocations for district hospitals around the country.

And finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane has dismissed assertions that donors have lost confidence in Rupiah Banda's government for tolerating corruption, saying only the embassies of Sweden and Netherlands have officially notified government on the suspension of US $33 million out of the total donor support of US $120 million for the Ministry of Health in 2009.

Meanwhile, government sources have revealed that the operations in the Ministry of Health are limping amidst the shaky flow of funding.

During a joint briefing in Lusaka on the financing of the health sector after withdrawal of aid by some donors, Simbao said K24 billion was required every month to meet hospital requirements in the country.

"District hospitals will be the most affected since their allocation amounts to K16 billion per month and these funds is meant for feeding of patients, operations, HIV programmes, nursing and clinical duties, among other programmes. So you can see the difficulties that we will undergo through," Simbao said.

"So we are considering reducing or suspending funding to certain areas without causing damage and we have in mind items like seminars and others that can be pushed forward to next year."

And Dr Musokotwane said government had regretted the suspension of funding to a sector that assisted poor people because it would have a negative impact on the government's ability to deliver.

"Ministry of finance and health officials have been tasked to work out a contingent plan that will ensure that during the absence of donor, the key health services to the people are ring fenced and strengthened using both the government's own budgetary resources as well as the resources of those cooperating partners who have not suspended their support," Dr Musokotwane said.

"Donors have not lost confidence in the running of affairs by this government, only they have just notified us indicating that our support to our health ministry has been delayed on temporary basis following revelation of possible embezzlement of large sums of money from the ministry."

He said the total sum of money withheld was US $33 million out of a total donor support of US $120 million for the whole of 2009.

"Government very much regrets the possible theft of public funds in a sector like health whose interventions are at the core of providing a basic human need and this is why government has already provided all the needed financial support to the investigative wings so that the truth comes out and the culprits once identified, can be dealt with appropriately," Dr Musokotwane said.

Meanwhile, highly placed sources explained that government usually provided 45 per cent funding to the Ministry of Health while the other 55 per cent was met by donors.

However, the sources said government had only released 20 per cent of the monies, which was not sufficient.

"And most of that 20 per cent has gone to third level hospitals such as UTH [University Teaching Hospital], Chainama, Ndola Central, Kitwe Central and Arthur Davison Children's Hospital. And this is just towards operation costs and salaries," the source said.

The sources said second level hospitals such as the ones in provincial headquarters had been affected seriously by the lack of funding.

"Like for medicines in most of these hospitals; it is prescriptions that are working now because there are no medicines. That is why you have seen medical staff in some hospitals going on strike because some of the incentives they are entitled to have not been forthcoming in the last two months," the source said. "Things are bad for now. It is quite tricky and something needs to be done urgently."

The sources added that some donor-run projects in the ministry were also currently on hold.

"But it seems things will normalize in the second quarter. By the end of June hopefully things will normalize because it seems they just wanted to clear out things so that things start running smoothly again," said the source. "It will be better when things normalize because it is the people at the grassroots that are feeling the pinch."

The Swedish and Dutch governments have suspended aid to Zambia's health sector following revelations by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) of a K10 billion [US $2 million] scam in the Ministry of Health.

The donors have withheld their aid pending the report of the forensic audit of the Ministry of Health.

The Swedish government, through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), were to release about K59 billion while the Dutch government contributes K92 billion annually to the country's health sector

The ACC unearthed a corruption scam in which over K10 billion government funds were suspected to have been corruptly obtained from the Ministry of Health.

The commission is investigating Henry Kapoko, a former human resource manager in the Ministry of Health, in connection with the alleged corruption, theft and fraud.

The ACC has also seized and restricted property in excess of K3 billion allegedly belonging to Kapoko who now works at the Ministry of Local Government and Housing in the human resource department.

President Banda last Tuesday directed all civil servants and their agents who were currently under investigations in the K10 billion scam not to enter the Ministry of Health (MoH) premises until further notice.

According to a statement issued by special assistant to the President for press and public relations Dickson Jere, President Banda received an interim report on the alleged financial scam at the Ministry of Health where billions of funds were alleged to have been misapplied or stolen by civil servants.

On Wednesday, over 20 employees at Ministry of Health were suspended to pave way for investigations into the scam. Operations at the ministry were temporarily suspended as law enforcement agents cordoned the area to ensure that people did not move evidence from the offices and some people from various departments were picked up for questioning at the police headquarters.

Labels: CORRUPTION, DONORS, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE

posted by MrK @ 4:01 PM