South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
The transitional unity government has been asked by health experts to increase the annual budget for the health sector in order to improve service delivery in the ailing sector.
Dr. Martin Makuek Chiman, a senior pharmacist and executive director of Giving Back Foundation- a local charity supporting vulnerable people, called on the government to enact healthcare Act to make healthcare services affordable to the most vulnerable population in the country.
He also called for investment in local pharmaceutical industries in the country to reduce overreliance on imported expensive drugs.
Makuek urged the government to introduce safety-net health system, adding that this plays crucial role in the health care system by providing care to low-income and vulnerable populations.
“Investment in community health centers such as PHCCs and PHCUs. Community health centers play a critical role in providing quality care in underserved areas such as in the remote areas,” he disclosed.
Dr. Harriet Pasquale Akello, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health, said that much emphasis should be placed on improving secondary/tertiary healthcare by funding hospitals to reduce disease burden which overwhelm primary healthcare.
“If our budget can be increased to really support our hospitals, it will make a very big difference and this is very important,” Akello said.
She said that without additional increment of the health budget, they will not be able to make a difference in improving health services at the hospital level.
“This is really my cry that we really invest in hospitals. We don’t have so many hospitals for the tertiary level, but if we can focus on the few we have to make them fully functional, to make them provide quality health services, it will make a difference in the health of our people in South Sudan,” Akello said.
Akello noted that South Sudan is prone to disease outbreaks, emergencies, adding that the health sector is over dependent on donor funding which is not sustainable in the long -run.
