The burden of financing healthcare
Recent analysis of Botswana’s health financing landscape indicates that about P8.6 billion will be needed in 2016 to finance healthcare services.
The services include Essential Health Service Package (EHSP), hospital care, HIV/AIDS programmes together with the policy, planning, monitoring and evaluation plus regulation of the needs of the health system.
Health Minister Dorcus Makgato revealed this at the unveiling of Bomaid’s revamped identity this Tuesday. EHSP forms part of the 10 year strategic Intergrated Health Service Plan (IHSP) that was developed in 2010 for the entire health sector, as a partnership between the Ministry of Health and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The IHSP is a plan strategy for changing health sector for a healthy Botswana by 2020. Makgato however indicated that “only P6.4 billion is available, leaving an estimated funding gap of P2.2 billion. This gap is projected to reach P3.04 billion per year by 2023. Hence it is very crucial that the public and private sectors come together to create more efficient and cost effective ways to provide healthcare services and the funding of such services.”
As a developing country, Botswana is facing financial realities of the growing global uncertainty. For Botswana in particular, there has been an impact of decreased diamond revenues and declining international donor support especially in the funding of HIV/AIDS and other chronic disease programmes.
Makgato further revealed that her Ministry, together with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, assisted by some development partners, are currently working on a health financing strategy that is aimed at ensuring an affordable and long term sustainability of healthcare funding.
One of the objectives of the health financing strategy is to strengthen partnerships between the public and the private sector that will not only expand access and service delivery but will also assist in closing the funding gaps.
At the event, the Minister commended private healthcare funders such as BOMaid for their existence and increasing participation and role in the health sector. BOMaid currently looks after about 85,000 total lives and almost all of these individuals utilise the private sector for their day-to-day healthcare needs.
"Accordingly BOMaid pays for the services these individuals receive from the private health sector. In this regard I understand that in the past five years, Bomaid has spent almost two billion pula in health claim payouts. This to a great extent reduces both service delivery and funding burden from the Ministry and government," she said.
The 10 year IHSP presents the vision for the improvement of the health status and health care of the population of Botswana up to 2020. It identifies priority areas and aims to ensure that those health services that are being delivered will provide the greatest benefits for all citizens.
The IHSP addresses the goals and objectives of the revised National Health Policy 2010. It prioritises those health services that are most needed and most efficient, and incorporates the views of both health professionals and the general public.
