Shortage of funds hits medical services in Shinyanga

DAILYNEWS Reporter

Deputy Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children, Dr Khamis Kigwangala.

Deputy Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children, Dr Khamis Kigwangala.

FINANCIAL constraints badly hit Shinyanga Region during 2014/15, making it fail to effectively offer medical services to the people, it has been revealed.

The revelation was made at the weekend by the Regional Medical Office, Dr Fredrick Mlekwa, during the visit by the Deputy Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children, Dr Khamis Kigwangala, to the regional hospital.

In the last financial year, total of 283m/- was allocated to the hospital, however the government did not issue the same amount as it was planned. Mr Mlekwa said the current sources of funds are not sufficient enough to cover all hospital needs including procurement of medicines and other medical equipment.

“This is the reason making the hospital fail to have all important medicines. We do receive less than what is being allocated. We failed to meet the directives from the central government due to the shortage of budget,” he added.

He went on to say that the government in the last year disbursed the budget with shortage of about 50 per cent compared to the 2015/16 budget hence caused serious shortage and delay of services to patients. According to the RMO, the hospital has 97 per cent of access to accredited drugs of which the service contributes about 15m/-, which are used in procurement of other medicines.

“The aim is to ensure that our hospital possesses medicines that are not supplied by Medical Stores Department (MSD). We charge 10,000/- for quick service patients and 15,000/- for those who meet with specialist doctor, monthly collection under this services reached 15m/- which are used to curb shortage of medicines,” he explained.

He said in the effort to curb the shortage, the hospital decided to set aside 40m/- for procurement of medicines from the MSD but they received medicine of only 26m/-, rendering it impossible to end medical challenges in the referral hospital.

For his part, Dr Kigwangala said the government is committed to ensure the availability of timely and quality health services to all patients to meet public expectations in the health sector.

Some of the region’s residents complained on the amount charged by the hospital to patients who use emergency services while there is a shortage of drugs at the facility, which they buy themselves from private chemists.