Govt owes Medical Stores Department Sh144 billion

Dodoma. The government owes Medical Store Department (MSD) Sh144 billion as of last July, deputy minister for Health, Social Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Hamisi Kigwangala told the Parliament on Thursday, September 7.

Answering a question in the Parliament, Dr Kingwangalla said by June 2016 the debt stood at Sh143 billion and the government managed to pay some Sh12 billion.

However, later on, the State bought, on credit, medicines and medical facilities from MSD worth around Sh11 billion.

He was responding to a question from Special Seats MP, Ms Neema Mgaya (CCM) who wanted to know efforts by the government to improve MSD delivering capacity.

"Despite numerous efforts there is public outcry on inadequate provision of medicine at various areas within the country which is chiefly contributed by MSD weak performance. What steps the government is taking to solve this situation?” she asked.

Responding, Dr Kigwangala said the government has since 2016/17 fiscal year started to take various steps to improve performance by MSD.

The steps included entering a contract with Deloitte, as a Consultant, to evaluate and improve the MSD's delivering system.

“After finalising the work, Deloitte presented to the ministry recommendations on what should be done to improve MSD performance, “he expressed.

He added that after received the report, the ministry formed a special task force team to assure immediate implementation of the recommendations.

"As of July 2017, at least 19 out of 21 suggestions itemized by Deloitte had been fully implemented by MSD," he assured the Parliament.