E2.76bn to help rebuild burnt structures
MBABANE – The E2.76 billion budget allocated to the Ministry of Health will be directed towards rebuilding structures, which were burnt during the June/ July 2021 civil unrest and development of hospitals.
According to the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, the ministry received the second largest budget allocation after the Ministry of Education and Training, which stood at around 10.44 per cent.
Nkosi said their budget usually stood at 13 per cent of the entire government budget.
The minister said what they received was fair. She was asked by this publication if they were pleased with the budget allocated to them by government and whether it would meet their aspirations.
Unrest
She said three of their buildings, including kaMfishane Clinic in the Shiselweni Regional and Manzini offices were burnt during the unrest; hence they would be attended to.
Nkosi said priority would be given to the reconstruction of the above mentioned structures and the development of three hospitals; Lubombo Referral, Moneni non-communicable disease (NCD) and Mbabane Government Hospital.
The minister stated that they would be working on major repairs for the roofs and finalise a number of facilities that were nearing completion at the Lubombo Referral
Hospital.
Pressed further on the ministry’s unpaid bills and if the funds would be used to settle them, the minister acknowledged that they had unpaid bills and arrears that would spill over into the new fiscal year.
However, she mentioned that if budgets were released and made available timously, the impact of arrears could be reduced.
Nkosi said this was so because government did open a narrow window to wind up and pay the previous year’s bills.
This window, she said, was narrow and was within a complex procurement and payment system.
Nkosi highlighted that at the Moneni NCD, they had already begun treating cancer and would continued to develop and renovate theatred, while adding diagnostic and treatment facilities.
Planning
At the Mbabane Government Hospital, she said they would do repairs, maintenance and start planning on the phase two major development.
Furthermore, she stated that there were clinics that were nearing completion and other major titbits of work to renovate the old facilities that were in poor condition.
“This cannot be done in one year, even though many of the plans are done and ready for execution.”
On the issue of human resource, Nkosi said they always prioritised on it and further budgeted for it.
However, she said hiring of civil servants was done centrally, through the Ministry of Public Service and the Civil Service Board, hence there were restricting regulations.
Change
Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Secretary General (SG) Mayibongwe Masangane, said the budget showed that the situation within the Health sector would not change.
Masangane said there was no significant change which they were expecting, especially in this current situation of drug shortages.
He said this meant the funds would be directed towards paying suppliers.
Masangane said they had thought the Ministry of Health would receive around 13 per cent of the total budget to cover the gap in personnel and drug shortages.
The SG said they would love for the ministry to focus their priority mainly on the personnel and drugs, which had been dragging for quite some time now.
He said while in other things they could improvise, they could not do same with drugs. Masangane said with the issue of personnel, they needed to hire more people in order to improve the healthcare service. He said there was a shortage of staff across all cadres.