Mauritania’s Court of Auditors has uncovered alarming financial mismanagement within the Ministry of Health, citing multi-billion ouguiya budget overruns, unregulated contracts, and poorly executed health programmes.
According to the 2022–2023 annual report, the ministry, which had a 2021 budget of 4.66 billion ouguiyas and spent 4.38 billion, recorded a deficit of 278 million ouguiyas.
The report highlighted the diversion of funds to non-health-related activities, direct contracting violations — including a 165 million ouguiya deal with MS MEDIC and nearly $3 million in contracts with T2S — and significant delivery delays exceeding 1,300% without penalties.
It also flagged unexplained payments, such as 2.6 million ouguiyas for a road accident and 40 million to a pharmaceutical company outside procurement procedures.
Further irregularities include poor documentation in a deal with Swiss firm Roche for cancer and kidney treatment drugs, with payment delays of over 71 million ouguiyas. Medical equipment, such as oxygen stations and generators, were found defective or redundant, while key public health programmes underperformed due to poor data and planning. The Court urged urgent reforms to strengthen internal controls, recover misused funds, and restore transparency in the health sector’s financial management.