Khalid Al-Falih

Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih has accused bodies affiliated with his ministry, including the health directorates, of failing to pre-plan for projects. This, he said, has led to an increase in their spending during the past financial year.

The minister also criticized them for non-commitment to some financial allocations for a number of programs that were approved in their budgets, local media reported on Friday, quoting a circular in which he stressed on commitments to royal directives and budget instructions.

In a related matter, the General Audit Bureau (GAB) has issued an order urging self-operative hospitals to stop paying advances against salaries and stipends, which, it said, is a violation of budget implementation directives.

Al-Falih said the ministry’s management of financial resources have been affected by the fact that some of these bodies resort to internal transfers within the budget’s articles, or ask for external funds to make up for the errors that they have made. This occurs due to the absence of a priorities’ program and a lack of planning.

The minister stressed the importance of following up on spending methods and commitments to royal instructions, which means that no spending should be approved until the relevant bodies have met previous financial budgetary commitments.

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