CSOs lament health funding cut
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country have spelt doom for the health sector following the lowering of its budget from about K190 billion in the 2017/2018 National Budget to K86.7 billion in the proposed 2018/2019 National Budget.
In the proposed budget, which Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe presented in Parliament last Friday, the Ministry of Health has been allocated eight percent of the total fiscal plan, defying the Abuja Declaration which Malawi adopted in 2001 pledging to allocate 15 percent of its total national budget to health.
Reacting to the 2018/19 proposed budget, Malawi Health Equity Network (Mhen) and Health and Right Education (HRE) feared disaster in the health sector if government does not consider revising the budget for the sector which they say is already facing many challenges.
In his national health budget analysis, Mhen executive director George Jobe said the allocation, which is ranked third after education and agriculture, will leave the health sector crippled with staff shortages and power outages, among others.
“This kind of funding will lead to continued poor service delivery. Malawians should brace for more hard times. As CSOs, we will continue to lobby for additional funding because this is disaster in the making,” he warned.
In a separate interview, HRE executive director Maziko Matemba said they have noted the cut in the budget with concern and are analysing the budget to understand why government has settled for the present figure.
“We are scrutinising the budget to establish what has triggered the decrease. Have some development partners pledged to support certain activities in the health sector and government has left out such activities in the budget?” he queried.
Matemba said the health sector requires a lot of resources for smooth operations.
However, he hailed the allocation towards the completion of Phalombe District Hospital, which he described as long overdue.
Since Malawi signed the Abuja Declaration in 2001, it only met its obligation in the 2011/2012 financial year with about 16 percent allocated to the health sector. n
