MPs urge health ministry to disclose foreign aid expenditure

Members of parliament have pressured the ministry of health to disclose how it aims to spend billions of Kyat in foreign aid.

MP Nay Linn demanded more transparency in how Myanmar's health department plans to spend foreign aid, including over Ks 10 billion of Japanese assistance granted to update health facilities.

"The Health Department presented reports to parliament to build rural healthcare centres in central Myanmar and to upgrade the health sector with the help of Japanese assistance. They have not mentioned exactly where and how many health care centres will be built," said MP Nay Linn to the Union Assembly.

He also discussed the installation of expensive equipment in Yangon and Mandalay public hospitals, the purchasing of 30 ambulances for the Southeast Asian Games and a transformer for prevention against infectious diseases.

"The Ministry of Health needs to describe exactly how many kinds of equipment will be set up in Yangon and Mandalay hospitals and how they will buy the medical equipment," Nay Lin added.

The MPs were reviewing the use of funds for unnecessary projects to reduce state’s budget deficit. The Ministry of Health spent Ks 78 billion on health care services in 2010 fiscal year.

Among seven departments under the Ministry of Health, the health department collected a further Ks 27 billion.

source: Eleven Myanmar
http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/national/3881-mps-urge-health-ministry-to-disclose-foreign-aid-expenditure