Catholics query health funding

By ZACHERY PER
THE Catholic Health Services is questioning the distribution of the K350 million allocated by the national government for free medical services.
Catholic Health Services secretary Magdeline Dokup said they provided about 25% of health services in the country by operating 223 health facilities in 18 provinces.
“Where do we fit in?
“Church health services in general provide more than 45% of health care and, therefore, should be seen as an equal partner,” she said.
“CHS provides 70% of nursing schools and 100% of community health workers training schools and serve 80% of the rural majority.
“CHS operates 716 health facilities. Out of this, 526 are registered and funded while 190 are unregistered and not funded.”
Dokup said some of these unfunded facilities were in fact government facilities, which were handed over to the church who were not being supported.
She said some of the pending issues such as wages disparity for health workers and tutors of training schools had not been addressed.
“Of the recent K10 million approved under the supplementary budget for CHS, only K1 million was given to CHS and K9 million has been diverted elsewhere, or, what happened to it, we do not know.
“How do we justify ourselves to be equal partners in the delivery of health care in this country?”