The Malawi Health Equity Network (MEHN) is set to analyze the K101 billion budgetary allocation to the ministry of health to see if it is addressing critical issues in the health sector.

MEHN Executive Director, George Jobe, said the organization will soon meet to deeply scrutinize whether the health allocation is in line with the policies and national commitments.

Meanwhile, Jobe has acknowledged the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development for incorporating some of the inputs made by MEHN during the pre-budget consultative meetings.

Jobe said: “Some of the issues we raised during the pre-budget consultative meetings such as the completion of Phalombe district hospital and cancer center in Lilongwe, and procurement of CT scan machine, have been incorporated in the budget statement which is a good development.”

MEHN director however expressed reservations on the construction of Balaka referral hospital saying “the timing is not right.”

In his opinion, Jobe feels that the priority should go to construction of district hospitals in Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre and Zomba where congestion in central hospitals is high.

On September 9, Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Joseph Mwanamvekha, presented a K1.7 trillion budget which allocated K101 billion to health sector, representing an increase of 12.6 percent from the 2018/19 financial year approved figure of K89.9 billion.

Some of the allocations include K25.9 billion for procurement of drugs, of which K10.6 billion is for central hospitals and K15.3 billion is for district hospitals.