PATHS Final programme report: "Togetherness in Health" the Enugu ...

PATHS budget team Enugu••••Establishment of a SMoH budget group which was able to progress the work without externalassistanceTraining the budget group in use of the activity-based budget templateAchieving a release of funds for the constituent bodies (albeit only for a limited period)Establishment of regular FMS monitoring to encourage transparency in financial accountingAll the above resulted in the production of computerised activity-based and costed budgetarysubmissions which were considerably more advanced that those produced by any other ministry inEnugu. This provided a model for other ministries – and indeed other states – to follow.Despite these very positive advances, an on-going and very significant challenge was the decisionto channel substantial funds into the upgrading of the Park Lane Hospital so that it could become atertiary facility. This severely reduced the operational funding available to the rest of the health sector.It also meant that progress with setting up the much needed State Health Fund was curtailed.Human Resource Management and DevelopmentHuman resource management aims to achieve: the right people, in the right place, at the right time,with the right skills.The SMOH recognised that a considerable amount of work needed to be undertaken in an effortto improve human resource management and development. Nevertheless, this area proved verychallenging and early work stalled due to the paucity of data on staff numbers and their actualplace of employment. Local Government data, in particular, proved virtually impossible to access.This was compounded by the high level of staff absenteeism. However, the period 2006-2008 sawa considerable improvement in staffing data with the Local Health Authorities in particular havingbetter access to data that would enable them to determine their staffing base. Data was much easier“Togetherness in Health” the Enugu Experience in Health Sector Reform, 2002-2008 35