Archbishop makes a valid point

 THE chairman of Catholic Health Services, Archbishop Stephen Reichert, has voiced concern about a long standing issue – the Government does not release funding to church health service providers on time.

The Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Seventh-day Adventist, Nazarene and others combined account for 80% of all the country’s health services.

Up until only a few years ago, these churches were res­ponsible for everything from building infrastructure, procurement and distribution of medical drugs and equipment and workers’ salaries and wages.

In recent times government took over the responsibility of salaries and in some cases allocated operational grants to some of these vital establishments throughout the country. 

However, what was a wholeheartedly welcome move by the government has become problematic to the recipient church medical service providers. The churches are not getting money when they want or need it.

The government commitment is commendable but the delay in releasing much needed funding to the churches does more harm than the good.

Welcoming the government’s budgetary allocations of K1.77 billion to the health sector in the 2015 budget, Archbishop Reichart said this week that health services were being affected because government fails to release funding promptly.

He pointed out the release of salary and operation funds to the churches was often delayed.

“Over the past 18 months, there have been frequent delays in the release of salary and operational grants for church-run facilities,” he said.

“As a result, many church health workers are not paid for two or three months at a time. Surely this injustice and violation of the rights of church health care providers is avoidable.”

We could not agree more. And one might venture to ask how many public servants in the responsible government offices dealing with funding for church health services would be able to work for three months without pay. That the church health facilities and the individual workers had willingly reported to for work for months is commendable and a show of a deep sense of commitment to their calling.

Certainly, the hiccups like delays in the release of salaries and operational grants can be removed with a little more effort by those concerned.  

It is hoped that the concerns raised by this one church leader, speaking for the other church health care providers in the country as well, would be noted seriously by the departments of Health, National Planning and Implementation and Finance as they are primarily responsible for what happens after a government’s money plan is passed.

Churches and government have an excellent partnership in service delivery and as much as the spirit of such cooperation is concerned, all impediments in the way must be removed.

This government-church partnership is to be nurtured with greater understanding between and among the parties for the continued and improved provision of health services in the country.  

It is a known fact that the government’s bureaucratic processes are for the churches, way too cumbersome and time consuming. What may be considered normal system delays by a government institution could easily cause serious disruptions to the provision of churches health services.

The government’s commitment to the health sector is welcomed by all.  However, the provision of a large chunk of the annual budget is merely a shadow of what is to be expected to be expended. 

What must follow such commitment is ensuring that what is slotted to the expenditure items is released on a timely manner. The churches have spoken out on what is a serious funding issue faced by many other institutions dependent on government funding for the provision of services. Besides the churches there are other institutions, including some government-run, who have been facing similar funding problems annually.

Archbishop Reichert’s call is a timely reminder to the Government. 

When the 2015 Budget cycle begins in January it is hoped the powers that be make a deliberate change so churches health care providers do not get a repeat of the problems of the past 18 months.