National Assembly |18 November 2023

All budgets for Health entities get parliament’s approval

Yesterday’s sitting was dominated by budget allocations for health-related matters and all six budget proposals were approved unanimously by the National Assembly.

The first before the House was the Ministry of Health, led by Minister Peggy Vidot who was seeking the approval for a sum of R121.542 million. The amount covers expenses for the minister’s secretariat, the National Institute of Health and Social Studies and the Division for Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation.

The Public Health Authority has been given a sum of R83.409 million, which is a R5.4 million increase compared to the revised 2023 budget. The minister explained that R5.2 million will go towards payment of revised salary for additional staff joining the authority, including those of the defunct National Aids Council and the Cleaners’ Cooperative,.

The highest sum goes to the Health Care Agency, which has received R1.2 billion for next year’s expenses. The bigger portion worth R784 million is dedicated to hospital services and specialised treatment. It is followed by R219 million for community service focusing primarily on prevention programmes, R130 million for health support services and R59 million for management and administration.

Minister Vidot said the extra R65 million in the budget is allocated for extra salaries namely for staff joining in from Cleaners’ Cooperative, new recruits and gratuity payments.

Three organisations had their budget allocations approved without any debate – The Seychelles Nurses and MidwivesCouncil will be functioning with a R1.421 million budget in 2024, while the Health Professional Council has received a sum of R1.418 million. The Seychelles Medical and Dental Council was the last one to have its R1.253 million budget approved for the day.

The National Assembly will resume its sitting on Monday.

Patsy Canaya