PRIME MINISTER Kassim Majaliwa has called on Development Partners to cooperate with the Government in successfully implementing the Universal Health Insurance program and to help strengthen the health care coverage system to make it sustainable.
Mr. Majaliwa has said that in order to strengthen the health care system, the Government has started taking various measures, including continuing to increase the level of the Health Sector budget.
He said on October 30, 2024 when the representative of the President, Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan at the opening of the debate on Health Insurance for All and the National Forum for Financing Health Services for the implementation of the Law on Universal Health Insurance (UHI), in Arusha.
“Also, we have established a fund to cover the poor citizens, we have identified specific sources of funds to pay for Health Insurance for the poor citizens where in the 2024/2025 budget 173.5 billion shillings have been allocated for that purpose”
, he said
He said that the implementation of Health Insurance for All will be successful due to the large investment made by the Government in the health sector, including the construction of infrastructure and the improvement of diagnostic services.
He has said that the Government has invested in the purchase and installation of modern medical equipment for diagnosis and detection of various diseases, where so far there are 13 MRI machines, 45 CT-Scans, 346 Digital X-Rays and 668 Ultrasound machines from the 476 that existed in 2021.
“This step has made it possible to get specialist diagnostic services”, he said
He has said that the Government has continued to strengthen the availability of medicines in the country by providing funds every month for the purchase of medicines.
“Until October 2024, availability had reached an average of 85 percent, where in terms of clinics it is 76 percent, health centers are 75 percent, Council Hospitals are 78 percent, Regional Referral Hospitals are 99 percent and National, Special and region is 98 percent”, said Majaliwa.
