The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care has raised concerns over the funding gap between bids and allocation for the ministry in the 2023 budget.
Ministry of Health and Child Care had submitted bids of about ZW$820 billion for the 2023 financial year but only got an allocation of ZWL$473.76 billion (equivalent to US$740.5 million using the official rate)
The figure represents about 58% of what was requested, and the committee believes that the gap is too wide.
Speaking on behalf of the committee, Honourable Nicola Watson said the allocations are grossly inadequate to deliver the highest standard of health care in Zimbabwe.
‘’The Committee is concerned that the Ministry of Health and Child Care only received 58% of its funding requirement of ZW$ 820 billion in 2023.
‘’This is equivalent to US$740 million if converted using the official exchange rate but only US$ 592 million using spot rate being used by most economic agents in the market.
‘’The much-applauded 2022 budget translated to US$1.1 billion upon its pronouncement but translated to only US$406 million due to the fall in the value of the Zimbabwean dollar experienced in 2022.
‘’This allocation is grossly inadequate to support the Ministry to fulfil its mandate of providing the highest standards of health care services to all Zimbabweans,’’ she said.
Honourable Watson also bemoaned the late disbursement of the funds to the ministry arguing that they compromise operations.
‘’Although the Ministry of Health received the second highest allocation, the Committee’s concern, however, is on the partial and late disbursements of allocated funds which recur annually.
‘’For example, whilst 86.87% of the 2022 Health budget had been released as at 30 September 2022, only 16% of capital budget and 42% of the operations budget had been released. ‘’Late disbursements seriously affect the Ministry’s operations and compromises its capacity to deliver on its mandate,’’ she said
