By Mustapha Sesay
A report launched at the Hill Valley Hotel says the reduction in the allocation of funds for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation has seriously undermined the commitment made by the government to achieving the Abuja Declaration, which called for the allocation of 15 percent of total budget to the health sector.
The survey, which was conducted by Budget Advocacy Network in collaboration with other non-governmental organizations including World Vision, Save the Children and Oxfam, found out that there was a decrease in allocation of funds to the Ministry of Health in 2012.
According to the report, in 2009, 7.9 percent of total government expenditure was allocated to the health sector, which decreased to 7.4 percent in 2010 but rose to 11 percent in 2011. However, the allocation was significantly reduced to 7.4 percent in 2012 according to the report. The report states that unless government doubles its effort in 2013, it is not likely to achieve the goals set in the Abuja Declaration.
Highlighting some of the challenges faced during the survey, Ali Readhead of Save the Children said that record keeping in local councils were in bad shape. She pointed out that there was discrepancy in the transfer of funds from the local councils to the District Health Management Teams (DHMTs).
For instance, in the 2011 survey, records show that a total of Le 33.9 billion was transferred from the local councils to the DHMTs. Of this amount, about Le7.2 billion was reported to have been received by the DHMTs, resulting to a huge discrepancy amounting to Le 26.8 billion.
According to Readhead, that discrepancy could be partly attributed to poor and weak records keeping.
She suggested that records management be strengthened to ensure an effective health care service delivery system at all levels across the country. She also called on the government to increase funding for the health sector.
Meanwhile, launching the report, the ACC Commissioner, Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara said he was ‘’deeply disappointment’’ over the lack of representation from ministries to attend function that was directly connected with their ministries. He said a similar situation occurred when he was presenting systems review report on the University of Sierra Leone where other stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Education were absent.
Representatives from the local councils who were present at the ceremony could not comment on the content of the survey report.
