Africa-Press – Zambia. Former Health Minister Dr. Chitalu Chilufya has urged the Ministry of Health to shift focus from mere budget compliance to strategic health systems strengthening as it prepares for the 2025 fiscal year.
Speaking during a parliamentary committee session on the 2026–2028 Medium-Term Budget Plan, Dr. Chilufya has warned that rigid alignment to indicative planning figures (IPFs) from the Ministry of Finance risks reducing the ministry to a “Ministry of Treatment of Diseases,” preoccupied with drugs, hospitals, and salaries.
“What is key when engaging the Ministry of Finance is not just to ask for improved resources,” he said. “You need to recalibrate your budget to speak to a functional health system and link it to your performance indicators.”
He has criticised the current budgeting model, saying it promotes stereotyped programmes that fail to meet the broader goals of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Dr. Chilufya has also flagged leadership and governance gaps at institutions such as the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA), which currently has no board in place.
“As we speak today, you don’t have a board at ZAMMSA. That’s corporate governance mischief of the highest order,” he said, warning that such oversight failures threaten the system’s credibility.
He has also questioned the omission of the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) from the ministry’s epidemic preparedness strategy.
“ZNPHI is silent in your submission. You talked about epidemic preparedness, but not about strengthening surveillance systems, which are crucial,” he observed.
Dr. Chilufya has stressed the need to prioritize health promotion, disease prevention, and wellness investments, warning that over-reliance on curative services is both costly and unsustainable.
“We need to see health promotion not masked under other programmes. Jumping quickly to clinical care is expensive,” he said.
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