Out of the $26.7 million allocated in the 2018/2019 National Budget for the Health Ministry to buy medicine and consumables, $15.6 million is being used to buy medicine for people suffering from non-communicable disease.
Minister for Health Rosy Akbar says this is 65 percent of the budget being used on NCD’s which is a worrying issue for our nation.
Akbar says the Ministry spends the largest sum on buying medicine for people suffering from Diabetes.
She says this money can be better utilized to purchase other medicinal needs.
“The NCD medication currently accounts for approximately 60-65 percent of our annual medicine budget. Therefore, this drastically indicates the dynamic focus of medicine procurement towards a targeted population in the country.”
$8.1 million has been allocated in the 2018/2019 budget to address the rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and strengthen preventative/outreach programmes relating to NCDs.
