Health rights Campaigners push for implementation of Abuja declaration
A congested ward at Bwaila Hospital-Pic by Oxfam Int
A health rights campaigner is tipping the government to raise the budget allocation to the ministry of health to 15% from the current 10% as a way of improving the sector.
Capital FM engaged health right activist Dorothy Ngoma who maintains that the rise will enable adequate resource allocation in various departments in the health sector.
In the 2022/23 national budget, the finance ministry channeled only 10 percent, a situation which Ngoma believes can be improved by the authority.
The Abuja Declaration of 2001 dictates that nations should allocate about 15 percent of their national budgets towards the health sector.
The allocation aims to patch existing gaps in wages and salaries for health personnel; improve operational expenses for central and district hospitals, procurement of medical drugs and vaccines among others.
However, in the 2022/2023 fiscal year the health sector was given K283.57 billion which represents 10.0 percent.
This, according to health rights campaigner Dorothy Ngoma, is a worrying issue affecting health service delivery.
Ngoma attributes the inefficiencies in combatting some of the problems in the health sector such as shortage of health staff, medical drugs and infrastructure to the financial deficit required in the field.
“Government needs to strive to reach the 15% mark which can be a solution to the existing problems because the funds can be spread out in various areas in the health sector” Ngoma explained
The 2022/2023 fiscal year allocation focused on a number of projects in the health sector such as the Construction of Cancer Centre, Construction of Health Posts as well as the Multi Sectorial Nutrition program.
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