Prime Minister pledges increased health funding

Swaziland's Prime Minister Themba Dlamini has pledged to channel more funds into improving public health facilities after an eye-opening tour of the country's main state hospital this week. During a visit to Mbabane State Hospital in the capital on Tuesday, Dlamini and several government officials met with the staff, who described the serious impact of the lack of resources on the capacity of nurses and doctors to deliver adequate healthcare. Staff complained of critical drug shortages and insufficient funds to repair much-needed medical equipment, and pointed out that the deteriorating work conditions were denting morale among medical personnel. The brunt of the difficulties, however, was being borne by poor Swazis who had no option but to depend on the state for healthcare. Nomsa Mdluli, a hospital patient obviously in pain, tried to explain why she was lying on a mattress on the floor of the women's ward. "There is no room for all of us here - the AIDS patients are crowding everyone else out. Even though the hospital authorities send them home to die, new ones come in every day. At least I am inside the ward, and not lying in the hallway like some of the women," she told IRIN. About half the patients admitted to the hospital suffer from AIDS-related illnesses: Swaziland has the world's highest HIV infection rate, around 38 percent. A nurse at the hospital said although the staff were dedicated to high standards of patient care, limited resources had made it difficult to maintain them. She commented that the hospital, originally built in the 1940s, was "a tired old place", and added, "it is hard to find resolve here". Further down the hall, Dlamini encountered several critically ill patients lying on mats on the floor because of the shortage of beds. "This has been an eye-opener for me," said Dlamini. "We [the government officials] and parliament are going to invest a lot of money in this hospital, and the country's health system as a whole. Swazis need to receive quality healthcare even in rural areas, to avoid coming here in the first place." On average only 4.7 percent of the central government's capital expenditure over the past five years has been allocated to health, compared to 6.5 percent for Public Order and Safety.