US cautions Malawi on health budget
United States of America (USA) Ambassador Virginia Palmer has urged Malawi to make bold decisions to ensure that the health sector does not suffer due to shortage of funding.
Speaking in an interview after touring HIV and Aids facilities at Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) yesterday, Palmer said she noted that government has allocated little money to Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for other recurrent transactions (ORT) despite that the two ministries need money to procure various goods and services to serve the public.
She said government needs to do more on health services, noting some of the services such as electricity, water and food—which are to suffer due to lack limited funding—will have a direct impact on lives.
Palmer said government has tough choices to make despite that the current administration has put in place a number of reforms that will help limit spending.
She said although some of the reforms were being put into practice, there is need to do more as such reforms are critical in getting the economy on track.
Asked if her government was ready to support hospitals on ORT as most hospitals are heading for disaster, Palmer said her government spends a lot of money on Malawi’s health system and it would be difficult to pledge more funding.
“Government has to do more. The US government spends $95 million on HIV and Aids programmes, $22 million [K11 billion] on malaria programmes and $7 million [$3.5 billion] on family planning annually. We spend a lot on Malawi health system,” said Palmer
She said her government is also looking into training of about 400 people in the health sector to ensure sustainability of health services.
MCH spokesperson Frank Banda said the hospital needs urgent support from donors, arguing the current budget will heavily cripple operations of the hospital if not supported. The hospital has been allocated K362 133 310 ($724 266.62), leaving it with K214 941 608 ($429 883) deficit.
The hospital has been forced to slash food allocation from about K5 million ($10 000) per month to K3 million ($6000).
Ministry of Finance spokesperson Nations Msowoya said government cannot meet all the needs of the hospitals as shortage of funding is a general challenge. He, however, said the hospitals have to utilise the little resources allocated.
He said government is in a dilemma as donors are yet to come forward on supporting the national budget despite that some donors are directly helping health institutions.
