HEALTH and Child Care minister David Parirenyatwa has said
the ministry requires at least $1,1 billion, about a quarter of the country’s
budget, annually to run smoothly with adequate supplies of drugs and other
consumables.
Speaking to NewsDay after being sworn-in by President
Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House yesterday, Parirenyatwa said previous budget
allocations to the health sector had made it difficult to fully equip public
hospitals, forcing some patients to seek medication outside the country.
“The health sector cannot improve when we don’t have
resources,” he said.
“Most of the problems that we are facing are because we
don’t have resources, but if we have adequate resources, we will improve the
hospitals and buy adequate ambulances and get more of our specialists on the
ground and be able to contain malaria and issues worrying the sector and
particularly retaining our staff.
“We want $1,1 billion a year. I know this might be out of
reach, but for us to make things right, we need this amount annually.”
Parirenyatwa said with the coming-in of Mnangagwa, he was
hopeful things would change for the better and the international community had
shown willingness to engage.
He said the ministry was looking at ways to woo back
Zimbabwean specialists to the country and help improve the health sector.
“We are going to make a particular effort of attracting our
own foreign-based specialists so that they come back home, but it will also
depend on how much equipment is available in the country because a lot of them
are very highly skilled and would need appropriate equipment so that our people
are helped at home,” Parirenyatwa said.
“I hope we are going to attract foreign investment in the
health sector.”
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