The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called upon the Ministry of Health to digitise it’s records.

The call follows remarks by officials from the Ministry who told the Committee that some documents do miss from the Ministry whenever external auditors want to audit.

According to the Committee’s Vice Chairperson Nedson Poya, it is worrying to note that such documents do miss at critical time citing the Auditor General`s (AG) report for the year ended 30th June 2019 as an example.

Poya said more needs to be done when it comes to digital documentation of records.

“We thought we have been improving but what we have noticed is that there is still big job to be done, this has to do with undertraining or not training our personnel in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in as far record keeping is concerned.

“To us we feel now it is a question of laxity now, so we need to find ways to deal with this laxity for people to start now managing their documents properly,” said Poya.

Responding to the call, Secretary for Health Dr Charles Mwansambo said plans are at an advanced stage for the Ministry to go digital when it comes to record keeping.

“Not it’s just the Ministry of Health but you heard from the Accountant General`s office that this is a government wide problem, most of the ministries at present are using the paper-based system.

“And it’s not easy to file record well in this modern age using paper alone that’s why in my response I also suggest that we should digitize our records,” said Dr Mwansambo.

Meanwhile, the AG`s office has told the Committee that it has purchased a new package that will ensure keeping of the records digitally.