AN opposition legislator has demanded that Health minister, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga must explain why his ministry was failing to pay medical suppliers to hospitals when the health sector is facing acute shortages of medical sundries.
Harare North MP Allan Norman Markham raised this in the
National Assembly last Thursday as a matter of national interest.
“We have been told that only 14% of the national budget for
this year had been drawn down by the end of May. However, Finance minister
(Mthuli Ncube) has categorically told us that he has paid every request
expeditiously, which means that the Health ministry has only requested for
money that they have duly received,” Markham said.
“That concerns me because I have been inundated will calls
from medical suppliers in the health industry that are telling me that since
October 2021 central hospitals have not been paid. Some of the hospitals are
owed US$200 000. This is a major issue when it comes to the cash flow for the
supplies, but as of this year, they are claiming that 200 of their suppliers
have not received any payment yet.”
Markham said only a fifth of the $117,7 billion 2022 health
budget had been disbursed to Chiwenga’s ministry, which means that the ministry
was not requesting for funds from Ncube.
“It is a major issue because when a supplier supplies to a
government organisation, they have to go through tender procedures, and there
are clauses which they have to fulfil – one of them being that you only get
paid 90 days after you have supplied. If
they have supplied and have not been paid for more than 120 days, they
encounter serious cash flow problems,” Markham said.
He said suppliers would be severely affected by exchange
rate issues affecting the country as well as inflation if they are not paid in
time.
“So the suppliers now have a major issue because they are
pushing for payment, but the Ministry of Health is saying they cannot pay
because they have not been given the money. My request is that Chiwenga and
Ncube must bring a joint statement to this House to explain to us why suppliers
are not being paid, and why we have a budget for national health that has only
14% distributed by the end of May. We have a major health crisis in the country
and we need an explanation why they are not requesting for the money,” he said.
Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Tsitsi Gezi
responded: “Clerks at the Table will advise the Minister of Health and Child
Care to come to this House with a ministerial statement regarding that issue.”
Meanwhile, Finance deputy minister Clemence Chiduwa
admitted that the country’s rising inflation has affected budgets of ministries
and eroded funds before utilisation.
“These are relevant and pertinent questions that are
dealing with the disbursement of budgeted funds and also to ensure that
whenever we provide social protection, it is not just on paper; protection must
be budgeted for and released. With
regards to how the funds are released, we first of all deal with a request
which is coming from the responsible ministry. After the request, we do a
budget release and when the budget release is done, we do a pay run and when
the pay run is done then we do cash release,” Chiduwa said.
He said at the moment government was running a cash budget,
and money was released only when there is cash. Newsday
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