Dr. Victoria Anib Majur, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health. |File photo/Eye Radio.

The Undersecretary of the National Ministry of Health is calling on the government to increase the national budget allocation to the country’s health sector.

Dr. Victoria Anib Majur said only 3 percent of the national budget is allocated to the health ministry – an amount hardly enough to fund the costly sector.

Dr. Anib said the budget allocation to the ministry is insufficient leaving the ministry incapable of providing quality healthcare services.

“I take this opportunity to call upon our leaders to increase the budget allocation for health because with 3% of the national budget, you cannot train nurses,” she said on Friday.

Anib was speaking at the celebration of the International Day of Nurses and Midwives at Al Sabah Children’s Hospital in Juba.

She added that it is time for the government to take the lead in providing health services and infrastructural development to the population.

“You cannot expect to provide quality healthcare to the population with that budget. Our leadership needs to put health as a top priority actually, because if we do not put health as a top priority, if we do not allocate a decent amount to the health sector, we cannot provide healthcare to our people.”

The senior health official said most health facilities across the country are operational only because of the health partners and international donors.

“You can see this hospital, it is working because our partners and donors are there to support us, but for how long are our donors and partners going to be there to support us?”

“It is time for the government to take the lead in providing health service, good infrastructure, and good conducive environment to the population”.

The Economic Cluster on Thursday passed the fiscal year budget 2023-2024 to be tabled before the Council of Ministers meeting.

The budget allocation for this year has not been revealed.

However, in 2022, the Ministry of Health was allocated only 25 billion out of the 338 billion South Sudanese pounds annual budget.

On the other hand, the parliament received the lion’s share of the budget amounting to over 43 billion pounds while the education ministry received more than 28 billion pounds.

The health official pointed out that health is linked to peace and security and urged the government to take notice of the health sector as it implements the peace agreement.

“Health is also linked to peace and security as we implement peace we have to be mindful that there are laws pertaining to the health sector that needs to be put forward.”

Ms. Majur also revealed that the Nurses and Midwives Council Bill has never been tabled at the cabinet five years after it was submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

The bill is an important document aiming to uphold and maintain the professional standards, ensure quality nursing education at all levels and standardization of nursing and midwifery registration.

“We need also to prioritize laws pertaining to the health sector because the health agenda goes in line with peace and security we are working hard to make sure that the Nurses and Midwives get their legal framework.”