THE government has warned all District Medical Officers in the country over laxity in distributing funds for drug purchases, amid findings that almost 21bn/-were not distributed to intended health facilities during the past financial year.
Speaking in Dodoma during a recorded
radio programme called Tujadiliane prepared by a select section of the
media and funded by the Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC), the
Minister of State in the President’s Office- Regional Administration and
Local Government, Mr Suleiman Jafo, said such costly laxity must end
now.
Mr Jafo said his office was disappointed
upon realising that some of the government officials are just ‘sitting’
with money meant for serving people, citing the discovered funds from
the Basket Fund which were not used and yet with no tangible
explanations.
“I am strictly warning the District
Medical Officers over such laxity. We had to institute disciplinary
measures including relocating the offenders and will keep on acting
tough against such unaccountable public servants. The money (21bn/-) is
such a huge amount that if spent could save a lot of people,” he said.
According to Minister Jafo, the State
was now implementing an agenda for change which was championed by
President John Magufuli therefore; all civil servants in local
governments should follow suit regardless of their positions and titles.
He said that of late, there were enough
funds for purchase of drugs and other medical supplies citing 279bn/-
and 127bn/- from the Basket Fund with the authorities being instructed
to make sure the supply reaches the intended recipients timely.
On the improvement of infrastructure in
the health facilities, the Minister said over 246bn/- has been allocated
for the construction of various health facilities countrywide including
the full completion of 172 health centers.
No comments :
Post a Comment