THE Government has said service delivery in health institutions, including AIDS treatment has continued to worsen due to the withholding of funds by some donors and has asked them to resume funding.
In a related development, Netherlands ambassador to Zambia Harry Mollenar said his country was considering resuming funding to the ministry of Health, which it froze after it emerged that some officials had stolen money intended to improve service delivery.
Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Velepi Mtonga said provision of drugs, including anti-retrovirals to persons living with HIV/AIDS had been adversely affected by the action taken by the donors to freeze $33 million for her ministry.
Dr Mtonga said in an interview in Lusaka that partners were key to the delivery of treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS whose health was at risk of deteriorating if the donors continued holding on to the funds.
“Government fully acknowledges the impact of the withheld funds by partners and it is doing everything possible to get to the root cause of the problem and to correct it but as that is being done, we need the funds to offer services to the people,” she said.
She said the Ministry of Health was ready to work with cooperating partners to improve service delivery for the benefit of the people.
She said the Government alone could not provide what the people, including those seeking HIV treatment, needed because the resources were not sufficient.
Dr Mtonga said the country had learnt enough lessons by the action taken by the cooperating partners and would be on the look-out for any wrong-doing by the people working in the health sector in future.
She said there was, however, a lot of work that needed to be done to avoid any such situations in future and urged cooperating partners to find other ways of expressing their dissatisfaction to misappropriation of funds other than with-holding them.
[Times of Zambia]
Yaba thats so sad, maybe they should just Privatise the Hospitals, peleni phone number yaba RP Capital, I will call them asap.
The situation is getting worse by the day, we can’t cry over spilt milk. People are dying, Rupiah is flying.
Recent some one said that service delivery is not affected because the donor money is only used for workshops
You thieves first put measures in place to safe guard the funds. You want to continue stealing TAMUMFWA PO NE NSOLI BAMAMBALA IMWE. Donors squeez them tightly so that they repent of their stealing.
The stealing well has dried up, hence this plea for funding to be resumed. Zasila zokuba ka? Mwalichilamo! In any case, even when the money was there, i never saw a difference. All i saw were Hummers, fat men, obese ladies and more Hummers!
…At the expense of the poor Zambian.
Some os the effects of the so called Mwanawasa legacy that Rupiah inherited. It will take a long time for this negative presentation of Zambia to take a u-turn. I dont think the conviction of Kapoko will make a difference, it also very dangerous that high profiled figures continue to trush Rupiah at the expense of the countries name and intergrity when it comes to transparency. While some politcians continue to make nosie in public over these issues, the poor Zambian at home is paying for this loud politicians noise! I cry for my country Zambia, I only wonder what is yet to come for this country!
these politician are so dull and behave as though the donor community has an obligation to give money. wake up and be self reliant. such a dull leadership we have.
Sad but you cant blame the donors. We shot ourselves in the foot. Donor money is from tax payers. It is immoral to steal tax payer’s money as people sweat blood to make it, whther it is in Zambia or abroad. Govt must demonstrate that new money will not be stolen. And also must demonstrate that they are recovering money already stolen. What is difficult about that.
You cannot tell a thief that he’s stealing, all they think about is helping themselves. Thats why they all plead not Guilty in Court. Donors squeaze them harder till they cannot breath any more.You are used to stealing and now there’s no money to steal. I urge all donors to provide direct material, logistical support and insfracture support to all sectors of the economy so that these thieves have nothing to plunder.
I implore donors to jst cut aid to govt,they should set up channels to funnel aid to the needy..\
Where is the windfall tax ? MMD Why not put pressure on these mining investors whom you have exempted to pay windfall tax ..oh and those South african countries who own most of the prominent companies in Zambia to give you donations.