Probe missing $21.1m health fund - MP to Parliament

Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Dr. Sebastian Ngmenenso Sandaare is calling on Parliament to interrogate the lost $21.1 million grant allocated to government to end the epidemics of HIV, Tuberculosis and malaria.

According to him, Parliament must question the Health Ministry and find out why such an amount of money hasn't been effectively utilized.

Stating how government and stakeholders need to be concerned about the missing $21.1 million health fund, the Member of Parliament for Daffiama/Bussi/Issa said "We know that HIV, TB and Malaria, are major diseases that affect Ghanaians and therefore, efforts should be taken that we mobilize funds domestically and ensure that funds that come from Global Fund are effectively used so that we can achieve our desired target”

“As Members of Parliament, and Members of the Select Committee on Health, it is an issue that we have to look at and ensure that there’s accountability. And to ensure that funds that we mobilize are effectively used for the intended purposes”, he added.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb at this year's Non State Actors Ghana National Forum in Accra, Dr Sandaare further stressed that “All of us as stakeholders should be worried and try to answer. Why is it that we need money for TB, malaria and HIV care yet we are not utilizing the funds that come. We should interrogate that to really be sure what we are hearing is the truth”.

His call comes after a consultant at the Non State Actors (NSA) Ghana, Elsie Ayeh in a policy brief presentation revealed how Ghana recently lost $19.5 million and $1.6 million from PEPFAR and Global fund respectively.

According to her, the total health fund; $21.1 million was to support the government to end the epidemics of HIV, TB and Malaria prevalence in the country.

The report further revealed that about 330,000 people in Ghana have been infected with HIV but only 100,000 are receiving treatment.