Health Ministry Projecting Significant Savings

The Ministry of Health is projecting significant savings, should all the Public Sector Transformation Unit’s (PSTU) recommendations for the restructuring of the Ministry, be implemented.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Jean Dixon, today (September 8), told a meeting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), at Gordon House, that the Government would save approximately $50 million annually, just from the merger of the Health Corporation Limited and the National Health Fund.
However, she told the PAAC, which is reviewing the PSTU’s recommendations for modernising the public sector, that the total savings from all the recommendations could not be quantified at this time.
“We have not done the costing, because we would have to know precisely what recommendations are being accepted. Some of the changes that are proposed, I think we all recognise that it is going to cost us to implement them, so at the end of the day, we have to see what is the net benefit. We have to make investments to save money later on,” Dr. Dixon explained.
In November 2009, the PSTU received recommendations from the Ministry for streamlining the operations of the 20 public bodies and five councils which fall under the portfolio. The Permanent Secretary reported that among the Ministry’s recommendations were those for integration of certain functions, intra-ministry sharing of corporate services and transfer of certain functions and entities.
Dr. Dixon said the master rationalisation plan developed by the PSTU reflects the recommendations made by the Ministry, for the most part.
However, she expressed concern regarding a recommendation for the transfer of veterinary services to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dixon said several consultations have been held within the Ministry regarding the transformation process and that implementation teams have been set up in most of the entities under the Ministry.
“The Ministry has done the necessary preparatory work, we have trained our implementation teams and we are ready to move ahead with implementation, once a final decision has been taken in relation to the various entities under the portfolio of the Ministry of Health,” she affirmed.