He told journalists on the sidelines of the just-ended
African Union (AU) Extraordinary Heads of State and Government Summit on
Industrialisation and Economic Transformation in Niamey, Niger, that despite
the impact of sanctions, coupled with Covid-19, the Government would double
down on transforming the public health system.
Budgetary support tabled by Finance and Economic
Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube in Parliament on Thursday,
President Mnangagwa said, buttresses Government’s commitment to deploy domestic
resources towards upgrading the health sector.
Treasury proposed allocating about 11 percent of the $4,5
trillion budget for 2023 towards the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
There are plans to progressively increase disbursements to
15 percent of the total annual outlay in line with the Abuja Declaration.
“The health sector back home has suffered, particularly as
a result of sanctions. We have had two decades of sanctions and our health
coverage had gone down,” he said.
“Now, the attack which came to Zimbabwe and the rest of the
world through Covid-19 has given us the awakening bell to say ‘please, wake up,
you will never know when the next pandemic is coming, prepare yourself’.
“So, we are now focusing on making sure that our health
sector is attended to.
“If you look at the Budget, we have upped drastically our
investment into the health sector because we feel that when the Covid-19 came
about, Zimbabwe was isolated.
“We never received any significant amounts from outside; we had to depend on our own domestic resources. We diverted funds from other projects to make sure we protected our people, and, at the end of the day, Zimbabwe did actually very well in the region and perhaps on the whole continent in terms of mitigating the impact of Covid-19. We are not going to stop at that.”
The President, who returned home yesterday morning, said
the Government was determined to adopt all necessary measures to ensure the
country’s health system was adequately capacitated to deal with potential
future pandemics and maintaining quality service standards.
“We are not going to stop there; we are making sure that we
are going to do anything possible to prepare for any pandemic that may come,”
he added.
“But, also, it’s good to have our people have the best
health service system.”
In his 2023 Budget presentation last week, Prof Ncube said
Government was committed to improving healthcare services, as evidenced by the
ongoing construction and rehabilitation of health facilities.
Among the notable projects are the Lupane Provincial
Hospital; health posts in Mutasa, Mashayamvura, Gokwe North and Centenary
district; 30 polyclinics; and five district hospitals.
Over and above staff welfare spending, the minister said
funds will be channelled towards the provision of adequate medical equipment
and sundries for public hospitals, with $43 billion allocated for the exercise.
Government also plans to procure 100 ambulances, 32 of
which have already been bought and distributed countrywide.
Treasury further set aside $2 billion for the procurement
of ambulances, utility vehicles and other essential medical equipment, while
$33 billion will go towards the rehabilitation and construction of hospitals
and clinics.
In addition, $1,1 billion will be used to establish a
stand-alone research and teaching hospital.
Government has also guaranteed the stable supply of
life-saving drugs for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria comorbidities; completion of the
Harare National Pharmaceutical Warehouse; and procurement of magnetic resonance
imaging equipment, as well as ambulances and service vehicles.
Minister Ncube, however, noted challenges related to high
staff turnover in the sector, which has an overall vacancy rate of 13 percent,
which is more pronounced among the specialist doctors’ categories.
“The high turnover of health personnel is compromising the
provision of health services in the public sector,” he said.
“Government is, however, addressing this challenge through
continuous review of both monetary and non-monetary incentives in order to
attract and retain medical personnel.”
On non-monetary benefits, he said Government has set aside
resources towards the construction of institutional accommodation at various
health centres and procurement of staff buses and operational vehicles.
“Currently, Government and banks are working on a Vehicle
Guarantee Fund to ensure sustainability and wider access to vehicle loans at
concessionary terms for health workers,” he said.
“Government has also approved a housing guarantee fund to
enable health workers have easier access to affordable loans from banks. Since
inception, 637 staff members have benefitted from the scheme.
“Furthermore, members are benefitting from the vehicle
duty-free dispensation to import personal vehicles using free funds.” Sunday
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