Ministry of Health has refused to give local councils greater control of their drug budgets by increasing contingency rate from 10 to 50 percent.
Currently, local authorities are only allowed to access 10 percent to procure medicines and drugs from other supplies as Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) gets 90 percent of the budget.
The councils’ calls are premised on the fact that CMST usually has 50 percent less of what it is supposed to supply. They made the calls in Salima yesterday during a Malawi Local Government Association (Malga)-facilitated high-level engagement between health service managers from local councils and national actors.
The councils said allowing them greater control of the drug budget may lead to improvement of stock.
But responding to the calls, Ministry of Health director of health sector and intergovernmental coor d i n a t i on Amon Nkhata said the 10 percent contingency was based on scientific parameters and cannot just be changed.
He said the focus should be on capitalising CMST to be able to supply without interruptions.
Meanwhile, Nkhata said the ministry is in the process of devolving control of health infrastructure to local councils as this has proved efficient.
In an interview on the sidelines of the meeting, Malga executive director Hadrod Mkandawire d i s p u t e d N k h a t a ’ s assertions, stating that there is no scientific evidence to show that councils are failing to manage user funds or can fail to handle increased contingency.
He said: “What is out there is a narrative that is just speculation. From the Auditor General’s report, I have not seen any element where the local authorities have been accused of mismanaging the drug budget.”
Mkandawi r e s a id there is no good reason for the whole central government to be in charge of construction of a health post when this falls under the mandate of local authorities.
In his remarks , Parliamentary Committee on Local Government member Henry Chimunthu Banda supported total devolution of power to councils in line with the decentralisation policy. Malga has previously tussled with Ministry of Health over management of the rehabilitation of health facilities fund. The fund was allocated K4 billion.
