Violations in 100 projects in the Ministry of Health, says report [Archives:2007/1100/Local News]
Almigdad Dahesh Mojalli
SANA'A, Nov. 4 ) A recent report by the Center for Observation and Accountability revealed many violations in the health sector.
According to the report, such breaches restrict the development in this public sector.
The report mentioned that most of the violations are systematic, lawful and administrative.
The 2006 general state budget report affirmed that more than 100 projects haven't been carried out in the health care sector, although most agreements for the projects were signed in 2001. The report mentioned that most of the projects are the construction of health care units and a center for kidney disease, and furnishing many existing health care centers.
The report criticizes the reduction of planning in the Ministry of Health Care, which resulted in a poor distribution of health care utilities and incompetence in operating these utilities, either because of a lack of required finances or other resources, like electricity and specialized staff.
The report added that there is a reduction in the institutional structure that includes the incomplete legislative system concerned with health sector duties. The report also indicated that health insurance laws haven't been completed yet.
There was no official at the ministry -at the time of writing this news -authorized to comment on the report.
Ex-health minister Dr. Najeeb Ghanem stated that the report showed a simplified picture of the tragic situation in the health sector. He added that though the report is good, it doesn't reflect the complete picture of the health sector, only the part indicating the bad reality of health services and hospitals.
Ghanem, who is now chairman of the Health Committee in the parliament, attributed the reasons behind this corruption to the absence of political intent to develop this important sector. Ghanem additionally mentioned that the state doesn't give this sector priority, depending instead on international support.
At the end of the statement, Ghanem called for the parliament to take a serious stand against the violations mentioned in the report.
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