Whilst encouraging the Ministry of Finance to increase budgetary allocation to his Ministry, the Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr. Alpha Wurie has stated that if Sierra Leone as a nation fails to invest in health every other sector will be affected.
He made this during his presentation in the ongoing Fiscal Year 2021 budget process at the Ministry of Finance Main Conference Hall in Freetown.
“The Ministry is linked with sanitation and by extension the environment, water resources (WASH). We just witness the outbreak of COVID-19 and everything stops; no more schooling, dress code changed, the tourism sector affected among others.
He said the Ministry of Health will be working with the Ministry of Finance to rehabilitate every government hospitals in the country over the period of 2021 and 2022 and there are things that they have to bring in for the first time like Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Emergency Care Unit, mortuary service among others.
The Ministry of health and sanitation proposed 2021 deliverables are the implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) pilot, expand and improve the Free Health Care Initiative, implement the school health program; pilot a Performance-Based Financing scheme; launch the health financing strategy, including plans for national health insurance schemes; continue decentralization of HR management through rolling out integrated HR Information System to all districts; scale-up, restore following the COVID-19 pandemic and sustain delivery of materials, child and adolescents services; electronic tracing of pregnant women; and pilot electronic medical records in hospitals.
The 2021 Recurrent Budget Request by the Ministry of Health is Le 182,306.8 Billion; with Budget Ceiling (Recurrent Expenditure) Le 60,451.1 Billion and Excess over Ceiling of Le 121,855.7 Billion.