By Kemo Cham
Minister of Health and Sanitation, Prof. Alpha Tejan Wurie, has warned that under-funding of the health sector could have a far-reaching implication on the country’s overall development.
Prof. Wurie made the comment while making a case for his ministry’s request for an increase in budgetary allocation to the sector.
The Ministry on Monday made its presentation in the ongoing Fiscal Year 2021 budget process at the Ministry of Finance. It is demanding for a recurrent budget of Le182,306.8 Billion. This amount is Le121,855.7 Billion in excess of the budget ceiling imposed by the Finance Ministry - Le 60,451.1 Billion.
The presentation of the ministry indicates that it intends to undertake a number of initiatives geared towards improving on healthcare service delivery. Notable among these are the proposed implementation of a pilot phase of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), expansion and improvement of the Free Health Care Initiative, and implementation of a school health program. The Ministry, according to Prof. Wurie, also intends to pilot a Performance-Based Financing scheme, launch the health financing strategy, including plans for national health insurance schemes; continue decentralization of Human Resource management through the rolling out of integrated HR Information System to all districts, among others.
Wurie told the panel of budgetary experts in the Finance Ministry hall that failure to invest in the health sector will mean the end of every other sector.
"The Ministry is linked with sanitation and by extension the environment, water resources (WASH). We just witness the outbreak of COVID-19 and everything stops; no more schooling, dress code changed, the tourism sector affected, among others," he stated.
Wurie also said that his administration wants to rehabilitate every government hospitals in the country over the period of 2021 and 2022, with plans to introduce for the first time facilities like Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Emergency Care Unit, and mortuary service at district level.
The Bio administration has presented the health sector as a priority area, but campaigners say this hasn’t been demonstrated when it comes to budgetary allocation.
Sierra Leone has notably failed to meet a key international commitment to improving on the health sector – the Abuja Declaration, which requires member states of the African Union to allocate at least 15 percent of their budget per GDP to the health sector.
In the last three years, the country’s health docket has hovered between 9 and 11 percent.
In the 2019 financial year, the sector ended up receiving actual disbursement of 6.1 percent. In the current year, only 5.5 percent have been disbursed, half way into the year.
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