The Minister of Health, Jenista Mhagama, has instructed all health institutions indebted to the Medical Stores Department (MSD) to promptly settle their outstanding debts to enable MSD to operate efficiently.
Minister Mhagama issued this directive on June 3, 2025, in Parliament, Dodoma, while responding to concerns from Members of Parliament who urged that MSD should enter the competitive market and fairly compete with other suppliers.
“The debts under Vote 52 (Ministry of Health), including those under my supervision as the Minister, have already been subjected to agreements requiring all institutions to settle their MSD debts without delay,” Minister Mhagama ordered.
She further stated that the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government has already held consultations with MSD to establish an effective system for local government authorities under the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government to clear their outstanding debts.
On June 2, 2025, Elibariki Kingu, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and HIV/AIDS, presented the Ministry of Health’s budget implementation report for the 2024/25 fiscal year. He revealed that the Committee identified government debts owed to MSD amounting to TZS 434.2 billion.
Kingu advised the Government to promptly settle these debts to safeguard the medical supply chain and ensure that healthcare services are delivered to citizens efficiently and without interruption.
Of the TZS 434.2 billion owed to MSD by health institutions, TZS 46.4 billion comes from health facilities under the Ministry of Health, TZS 83.1 billion from facilities under the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government , and TZS 305 billion from the Misonge projects.
In a related development, Minister Mhagama disclosed that the Government is continuing to improve MSD’s operational capacity by injecting capital. To date, TZS 150 billion has been allocated to MSD.
“MSD submitted a capital request totaling TZS 561 billion. The Government has already disbursed TZS 150 billion to strengthen MSD’s capital base, TZS 42 billion for the construction of medicine storage warehouses, and we are also expecting to receive additional assistance exceeding TZS 119 billion from the Government of the People’s Republic of China,” Minister Mhagama explained, highlighting ongoing government efforts to enhance MSD’s efficiency.
