Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) Selemani Jafo said only 30 per cent of all health centres countrywide were fitted with electronic payment devices.
He said lack of such a payment system created loopholes for the embezzlement of public funds.”For this reason, the government has taken measures to curb financial malpractice,” he noted.
Speaking during the opening of a regional and district medical officers meeting yesterday, he said the health facilities fitted with the e-payment system had increased revenue collection.
“There are health centres which were collecting between 4m/- and 6m/- a month, but after using the e-payment system, their revenue collection has gone up to between 40m/- and 24m/- a month,” he revealed.He said the government had directed that all health centres must have the e-payment system and to ensure effective implementation.”You should have contracts and instructions to make it work,” he added. Moreover, he said the government had set up a special revenue management and collection strategy to improve health centres.
The minister also wanted each health centre to control medicine allocation as there were areas, where allocations did not serve the purpose and were diverted to unspecified centres.
Mr Jafo noted that there were notable strides in the health sector as in two years the government had employed 11,152 employees to fill vacant posts.
“Changes can be seen everywhere after the health sector’s budget was raised from 31bn/- to 269bn/- this financial year and big changes are still expected,” said Mr Jafo.
He added that medical supplies had reached 93 per cent. On health infrastructure, Mr Jafo said the government in collaboration with stakeholders was upgrading 210 health facilities, including those providing theatre services.
“Until 2015, only 115 health centres were able to offer surgical services and many women and new-borns would lose lives during delivery,” he explained.
He said in the 2018/19 financial year, the government had set aside 105bn/- for the construction of 67 district hospitals and all directed medical officers to ensure the health facilities were constructed up to the required standard.
