SUPPLIERS of medical sundries and equipment are yet to receive payment from Government with Central Hospitals having a USD200 000 debt.
HealthTimes Reporter
This issue was raised by Harare North legislator Hon. Allan Markham last week in Parliament who stated that these suppliers were last paid on October 21, last year.
Madam Speaker, my point of national interest is on the health service. We have been told that only 14% of the National Budget for this year has been drawn down by the end of May. However, the Minister of Finance has told us categorically that he has paid every request expeditiously, which means the Ministry of Health has only requested for money that they have duly received.
“Now, that concerns me because I have been inundated since we had that discussion in this Parliament, by suppliers of medical supplies to the health industry. They are telling me that central hospitals, since October 21, have not been paid. Chitungwiza and the Central Hospitals here in Harare, some suppliers are owed US200 000,” he said.
He noted Government was breaching its tender conditions of paying suppliers 90 days after receipt of supplies. This Hon. Markham said, affected the suppliers’ cash flow.
“This is a major issue when it comes to the cash flow for the supplies but as of this year they are claiming that 200 of their suppliers have not received any payment yet. Currently, money has been disbursed and the amount of money that is being disbursed is one fifth of what is in the budget and that is for the suppliers.
“It is a major issue because when a supplier supplies to a Government organisation they have to go through the tender procedures and there are clauses which they have to fulfill. One of them being that you only get paid 90 days after you have supplied whereas if they have supplied and have not been paid for more than 120 days they encounter serious cash flow problems,” he said.
Hon. Markham also said suppliers are getting a raw deal given the volatile exchange rate.
“However, the document covers the issue of the exchange rate but the official exchange rate when we did the budget was 85 and now it is 365. The parallel was 200 and it is now 800. So the suppliers now have a major issue because they are pushing for the clause for them to be paid and the Ministry of Health is saying they cannot pay because they have not been given the money,” he said.
He requested a statement from both the Ministries of Health and Finance to explain why they haven’t paid suppliers.
