Mthuli Ncube to set up a coordination committee for Health budget
Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube has proposed to set up a coordination committee between his ministry and the Ministry of Health and Child Care to oversee the disbursements of funds.
There have been complaints over late or failure by the Ministry of Finance to disburse funds allocated in budgets.
This has resulted in the ministry failing to deliver quality healthcare to citizens.
However, speaking in the Senate Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube proposed to set a committee that will be meeting weekly to oversee the disbursement and utilization of the funds.
‘’If you add what development partners are also putting on the table, we find that we get closer to the 15% target. When you put everything together, you find that the budget for the health sector is not too bad.
‘’I think where we need to work harder is on resource deployment, time the budget releases but also prioritisation by the Ministry of Health is also key.
‘’I am proposing to say that come January 2023, we establish a Coordination Committee between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance which just targets budget utilisation.
‘’This Committee would sit every week and see where we are in terms of priority programs – be it equipment, drug acquisition, physical infrastructure, or whatever it is, we will prioritise and make sure the budgets are released.
‘’This kind of process is already in place when it comes to the Ministry of Agriculture and it has worked very well,’’ he said.
The Finance Minister added that the committees have proved to be effective for the Ministry of Transport and would be helpful for the health ministry.
‘’We have also started doing the same with the Ministry of Transport and now I am proposing that we do the same for the Ministry of Health and that is an internal Government process. ‘’It is not for approval by Parliament. I thought I should let you know as a strategy for dealing with the budget for this important Ministry,’’ he said.-
Mthuli Ncube to set up a coordination committee for Health budget
