Government plans to inject $31.2 billion into the health sector next year in hopes of furthering its plans to achieve universal coverage.
Finance Minister Winston Jordan, during the presentation of the proposed 2017 national budget, said the allocation will finance government’s efforts to create an “efficient, modern health system, with adequate human capacity and quality health infrastructure.”
The proposed allocation for health represents a more that $3 billion increase over the $28 billion allocated in the 2016 budget and nearly $6 billion more than the $22.1B allocated in the APNU+AFC’s inaugural budget in 2015.
During his presentation on Monday in the National Assembly, Jordan noted that in 2016, the Ministry of Public Health spent $48.4 million on medical evacuation (medevac) services for 93 cases that were unable to be treated in their respective regions and which were referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), which is the national referral hospital.