ABSTRACT

The Peruvian Ministry of Health (MOH) is responsible for providing modern health care for about 11 million medically indigent Peruvians—close to 60 percent of the country's total population. Foreign technical assistance for MOH management improvement was largely frustrated by the instability of leadership at the regional level between 1983 and 1985. "Central Administration," which represents close to nine percent of total MOH expenditures, is financed almost entirely by tax revenues. Standard budget data obtained from the MOH for the 1980–1984 period allow one to discern some important aspects of its revenues and expenditures, even if they do not permit detailed calculations of expenditures by level of care, types of services, or unit costs of services. A comparison of MOH central and regional level expenditures shows that goods, services, and pensions dominate the composition of the recurrent budget at the central level, while wages and benefits account for most of the recurrent expenditures at the regional level.