BUJUMBURA, February 16th (ABP) – The activities of the high-level national dialogue on health financing continued on Tuesday February 13, 2024, in the presence of the Vice-President of the Republic of Burundi, Prosper Bazombanza. Participants looked at strategies that could be implemented to obtain other funding, but also those of equity and financial protection where the area of prevention should be strengthened.
During the debates, two main themes were discussed, one focused on avenues to explore in order to obtain other funding while the other focused on equity and financial protection.
The Vice-President of the Republic indicated, during those discussions, that to guarantee universal health coverage (UHC), it is necessary to put in place a law on compulsory health insurance for all Burundians. For her part, the Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Mrs. Lyduine Baradahana, said that the government must do everything to invest in the field of prevention.
The Delegate of the World Health Organization in Burundi and leader of the group of development partners, Dr. Xavier Crespin, regretted that the brain drain has become commonplace in recent times. He also proposed that there must be security mechanisms so that specialist doctors remain in the service of the country. “It’s really a waste when you’ve trained people for years and years and as soon as the training is over, they go to serve elsewhere.”
The Director General responsible for the provision of care and accreditations within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Oscar Ntihabose, is concerned about the quality of medicines at a time when fewer than 200 pharmacists are the only ones registered in the Order of pharmacists.
“Currently, we have more than 3,000 pharmacists and curiously we only have less than 200 pharmacists who are registered with the Order of pharmacists. There is reason to wonder what is the quality of the medicine that is being sold on the market. There, we must see how to put more effort into this sector so that people can have quality medicines,” he declared.