The minister for Health and Community Development, Dr Doroth Gwajima, speaking in Parliament recently. Photo | File
Dodoma. The minister for Health and Community Development, Dr Doroth Gwajima, has ordered
dishonest public servants who caused losses for the government within the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for children to quickly return the money they stole.Dr Gwajima issued the statement yesterday when launching the new Board of Directors of NHIF and marking the 20th anniversary of the Fund.
The minister said she had all information in her report about all dishonest public servants, who made a forgery and received illegal payments of millions of shillings.
She said a mechanism would be put in place so that those thieves could return the money they had stolen.
According to the minister, over Sh2.1 billion has been stolen by dishonest public servants who signed forged documents.
However, she did not specify whether the amount of money was that one supposed to be returned.
“Those who participated in the theft are ordered to start returning the money and that there will be no mercy,” vowed Dr Gwajima.
Speaking of NHIF, Dr Gwajima said there were still some complaints from the beneficiaries of the Fund including lacking medicine and that in many areas the beneficiaries were told to buy drugs outside hospitals.
She said such a procedure of buying medicine outside hospitals was disclosing weaknesses of the health sector, adding that especially, she added, at this time when the government would come up with a Sh149 billion health insurance strategy after the signing of its bill in Parliament in September, this year.
The minister expressed her dissatisfaction over the small number of those who have joined NHIF, which is eight percent, saying that many Tanzanians are supposed to be reached out in a short period.
Dr Gwajima also directed that a mediation body be launched next week to end such complaints after its process started in 2001. For his part, Deputy Health minister Dr Godwin Mollel said the system of health insurance would not die as many people had been thinking.
He said, as a ministry, they had put in place firm strategies of sustaining that system by using investments. Dr Mollel explained that Tanzania would compete with Egypt and South Africa in the issue of health insurance because those countries had made huge strides in health insurance, but not other nations.
Health ministry permanent secretary Prof Abel Makubi said the new NHIF Body of Directors would deal with many issues after the previous one under retired Speaker Anne Makinda had laid a good foundation.
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