THE Public Health Partnership Forum (PHPF) has disputed allegations by some quarters of society that the health care system in Zambia is crippled.
And PHPF says there is no health facility in Lusaka that allows women who deliver to carry surgical waste to their homes.
PHPF publicity secretary Enock Kaputula says there are significant developments taking place in the health sector.
Mr Kaputula said in a statement issued in Lusaka on Thursday that the establishment of the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority, a statutory body that regulates and registers medicines intended for human and animal use, is a constructive step achieved.
“While we acknowledge that there is more that needs to be done to improve healthcare service delivery, especially through increased funding and addressing the shortage of human resource, we also want to state that a lot has been done in the last eight years by Government to bring healthcare services to the community,” Mr Kaputula said.
He said Government has introduced new medical courses in higher learning institutions.
“At the University of Zambia Ridgeway Campus, Government has introduced new degree programmes in pharmacy, environmental health and physiotherapy.
“At Chainama College of Health Sciences, there are new medical courses being offered such as medical licentiate, ophthalmology and psychiatric nursing,” Mr Kaputula said.
He said Government is upgrading most clinics into mini hospitals to decongest major hospitals.
“Government is also constructing new clinics and district hospitals in most rural districts of the country and most basic and essential drugs are readily available in all clinics and hospitals,” Mr Kaputula said.
And Mr Kaputula said there are no heath facilities in Lusaka that allow women who have delivered to carry surgical waste, including placenta to their homes.
“Lusaka has health facilities that are providing maternity services and there are adequate incinerators where all medical and surgical waste, including placentas, is disposed of,” Mr Kaputula said.
Meanwhile, Mr Kaputula has advised Government to adjust the retirement age of health workers from 55 to 65 years and recruit more medical staff.
He said this will cushion the problem of human resource shortage in the Ministry of Health.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
I think its being myopic for any one to claim that the health system is doing well . I cant just understand what the PHPF means by claimimng that things are well in the health sector and i can only excuse them if they are not exposed to good health care system because then they cant understand the difference. Please let us get to the ground before we make unrealistic claims. My Friend just lost a child due to suspected dehydration after failing to get the much needed services from chelston and chainama health facilities here in lusaka!!!!!!!!. By the time the child was taken to St. Johns Hospital in woodlands, the child had collapsed. Please let us be realistic about important issues and i urge you LT to research before publishing unrealistic claims. Go to the hospitals yourselves.
#1 Musonda H, good morning. It is always sad to lose a life especially that of a child. But I want to share with you some of my personal expeirences. Loved have died in simialr cicurmstances at some of these private hospitals that you mention, while other critical patients have been transferred to UTH where they were rescucitated just in the nick of time to save their lives. I myself had my life saved at UTH so I have a few good words for UTH despite its shortcomings. As for your comments it is you who has misread Mr Kaputula’s statement. Nowhere he claim that “all is well in the health sector” those are your own words. What he said is that the sector is not crippled, that a lot has been done but more importantly he admits that “a lot more needs to be done”. Please read again.
I must confess that of late govt has built clinics and upgraded district hospitals especially in rural areas.if one is in Lusaka and doesnt travel in rural areas,its normal to buy the Nawakwi’s outburts on healthy services in Zed.The fact is the healthy sector has improved tremendously than when Nawakwi was in Govt.I myself had the previlege when i was home to go to my village and I was shocked with the changes that had taken place regarding the local rural healthy centre.This is not to say all is well but an acknowledgement of a step in the right direction.Public healthy delivery is challenging.In Russia,medical healthy insurance is compulsory and provided by the govt but I can assure you,it doesnt go further than seeing a doctor and what follows “Ni maimwene”.
The health sector needs to do a LOT in the area of human resources. Improved working conditions will keep most Zambian trained graduates (doctors, nurses, pharmacists) in Zambia. We have lost too many people to surrounding countries and overseas, the govt needs to pamper its medical staff more than they are doing. Another issue is health care in the rural areas like one I visited recently. There are literally no medicines available and people are given panadols to treat their high blood pressure, just one example. No doctors, no pharmacists and no experienced nurses. Recruit people, yes, but give them better living standards and salaries. It can be done!**==
#2 KATIE GOOD
There is no let off on the production of MMD empty heads on the net, just when we thought Senior citizen and his same s.e.x civil partner Mr Capitalist are finally running out of steam because its not just humanly possible to sustain the mindless bum licking thats been going on here, from nowhere el pristo here you are already to fill the vaccum, UNBELIEVABLE. For as long as you remain in denial that women are being asked to carry the maternal waste with them to their homes will not find solutions. Whats so hard to accept that there is a problem and ask voters for patience as they spend up the process of procuring incinarators, We are not that unreasonable to expect RBs administration to sort out the many challenges that encumbers our health system but………………..
#2 KATIE GOOD
There is no let off on the production of MMD empty heads on the net, just when we thought Senior citizen and his same s.e.x civil partner Mr Capitalist are finally running out of steam because its not just humanly possible to sustain the mindless bum licking thats been going on here, from nowhere el pristo here you are already to fill the vaccum, UNBELIEVABLE. For as long as you remain in denial that women are being asked to carry the maternal waste with them to their homes will not find solutions. Whats so hard to accept that there is a problem and ask voters for patience as they speed up the process of procuring incinarators, We are not that unreasonable to expect RBs administration to sort out the many challenges that encumbers our health system but………………..
If the system is not crippled, why does the country send terminally ill very important plunderers to South Africa? Instead of defending the indefensible, it is better to just zip it. A step in the right direction is not enough, people are not condemning the step in the right direction. The problem is that priorities are not right. As an example, the money being spent on the NCC would be better spend on health and education ….
better spent that is.
I recently went to UTH with a suspected bout of Malaria at 02:hrs. When I arrived, I was charged a penalty fee of K75,000 for not having passed through a clinic first, never mind that UTH was the nearest health centre. A doctor finally got round to seeing me after 2 hrs. He recommended a blood test and I was off to the lab. We found a guard(who was sleeping), and no lab technician around. I was told to go back to the doctor and he prescribed some medication for me. I went to the pharmacy, same story. I had to wait until morning and trooped back to the pharmacy, no medication! I had to wait for private pharmacies to open at 8 hrs and fork out K65,000 for the medicine.
Then some ***** comes and claims our system is not crippled. Get your head out of your ass and face reality!
last sentence above should read, then some nincompoop. Apparently, id!ot is a banned word
LATEST
Polish Presidents jet crashes killing the President, his wife and senior government officials. Food for thought for our own RB to slow down we dont need another state funeral to gobble the much needed K20 bn.
meant 1d!iot. We need a better censoring mechanism LT
#9 SPLAKA
Hundred 100% understand your frustration. what boggles mind is they refuse to accept there is a problem. Is it so difficult to say ”we are trying hard to sort out issues in the health sector”
#11(msana wanzili)
By saying:”Food for thought for our own RB to slow down we dont need another state funeral to gobble the much needed K20 bn.” you are dramatising the tragic accident notwithstanding the kind of aircraft(Tupolev 154) the president was using.
Anyway,this is what the BBC correspondent had to say:
Controversial figure
The president was flying in a Tupolev 154, a Soviet-designed plane that was more than 20 years old.
Our correspondent says there had been calls for Polish leaders to upgrade their planes.
Mr Kaczynski himself had suffered scares while using the plane in late 2008, when problems with the aircraft’s steering mechanism delayed his departure from Mongolia. It was then caught up in turbulence flying to Seoul.
from 13
Mr Kaczynski himself had suffered scares while using the plane in late 2008, when problems with the aircraft’s steering mechanism delayed his departure from Mongolia. It was then caught up in turbulence flying to Seoul.
“Any flight brings with it a certain risk, but a very serious risk attaches to the responsibilities of a president, because it is necessary to fly constantly,” he was quoted as saying at the time.
Take note of the last sentence and that is what it entails to be President world over.I would not want if HH but NOT Sata becomes president,then he spends most of his time home without brainstorming with other heads of state.
Katie Good #2 you are just another MMD sucker. Typically trying to mislead. When were you last in Zambia?
You are so near Zambia you should know better then the twatted stuff you are giving out. Trying to sound learned and analytical but all the while talking B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. This is exactly why Zambia is in such a mess, its because of people like you.
#5, 9, 16 I will not engage in insults, sorry that is beneath me. Read the article again, the comments by #1, and response comments at #2. An important tip to correct understanding and analysis (and by the way this is very important to passing exams too) is to read what the book says and not what you want it to say, or what you have heard it says……
Out of interest, what degree courses does the University of Zambia have on AIDS?
Is there a diploma course or degree course on sexualy transmitted infections?
With what happened in Mazabuka – “The Mazabuka Gel Gate Scandal” – in the name of research, there are major lessons to be learnt that left 46 women newly infected with HIV infection.
Public Health in many developed and developing countries is now focussing more in prevention of disease, than in cure or treatment of disease. No longer rhetoric, but reality! With AIDS there is no cure so one would think that Zambia has some of the best AIDS control progammes or educational courses in Southern Africa. Does it?
State House should use its Diaspora Desk to raise standards in Public Health, especially where AIDS is concerned. *-:)
The posting on one of the blogs should read, ‘health’ services, rural ‘health’ centre, public ‘health’ and medical ‘health’ insurance instead of the use of the adjective ‘healthy’.
Is Mr Kaputula telling us that the revelation by Ms Nawakwi about women using buckets for disposal of body waste not true? Well, the public may be forgiven to believe that ‘there is no smoke without fire’.
#19
Thanx for the correction.I did not take note of the adjective.
#19, Except that certain political leaders can and DO create smoke, knowing fully well that a gullible section of the public will buy it in the name of “…..there is no smoke without fire….”. This is typical of our society today.
#17 KATIE GOODY
For starters lets clear out alleged insults then we continue debating. If possible please point at just one insult in my comments if you fail to do so i’ll replace your surname GOODY with LIARSON.
Peolpe if you have travelled in other countries you will agree with me, in terms of health services in zambia we are very far to reach the expected standard and it will take time to be at that level, lets not just talk but work with government to improve were we have seen a problem,remember we have got a long way were health services in zambia is concerned.
I am an accademician who is interested in contributing to the development and service delivery of public health. I have seen this forum as one way to make that contribution.However, I would love to hear from some of my colleagues intersted in this topic what they define as the health care system in Zambia and its adminstration. I say this because pin-pointing how dirty one hospital is or how certain hospital workers show lack of commintment at work will not help much as suggesting solutions to the problems.