Nurses council unhappy with the money set aside for drugs in new budget

Advertisement
Dorothy-Ngoma

Chairperson of the National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives (NONM) Dorothy Ngoma has condemned government for setting aside insufficient funds for purchasing medicine saying the allocation for drugs is not enough and has never been enough.

She said the allocation for purchasing drugs would have been enough if the money for the Ministry of Health was 15 percent of the K1.1 trillion 2016/17 national budget.

Dorothy-Ngoma
Ngoma says the matter is worrisome.

“It is worrisome because the budget for drugs has been cut from 24 to 17 billion which is a very high cut,” she said.

Ngoma added that the inadequate funds for drugs forces hospitals to use the little money they receive to purchase drugs, a situation which affects health service delivery.

The health activist then appealed to Malawians to stop drug theft in public hospitals as a way of ensuring drug availability in the hospitals.

She said it is high time people started to be responsible in dealing with the issue of drug theft.

Advertisement

9 Comments

  1. According to this report government HAS REDUCED the allocation for drugs from 24 to 17 BILLION. This is a cause for worry indeed considering the fact that we experienced a SEVERE SHORTAGE OF DRUGS in our hospitals in the previous financial year. Isn’t it obvious that the rightful thing to do was to INCREASE the said allocation?

    It becomes easier to increase allocation to the OFFICE of the PRESIDENT and the VP than allocating enough money for essential services like health. I guess our priorities are upside down. It would appears some guys somewhere are fundraising for campaign. They shall get the money they’ve OVER allocated elsewhere….. ITS A CONDUIT.

    But there shall come a time when someone shall need emergency treatment eg in case of a heart attack, serious accident that requires immediate attention ( where UK, India shall be too far for that much needed medical attention); at that moment, that’s when our dear leaders shall realise the importance of availability of SOCIAL SERVICES. Meanwhile, let them continue swimming in a pool of billions of kwacha. (voiceless citizen, that’s what I am).

  2. Thats true the money is little, government always put too much money in departments where they know that they can still easily.

  3. It’s National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives not Nurses Council. These are two different institutions. Please can you make a correction.

Comments are closed.