Both patients and bed-siders at Ndola Teaching Hospital (NTH) have expressed concern over charges levied on them for every service they receive from the health institution.
A bed-sider, Clara Mumba told ZANIS that the institution is charging K100 for newly born babies, failure to which the mother will not be discharged and K200 for babies born with deformities whose mothers will also not be discharged until payment is made.
“We thought NTH was a government institution where we can at least be given free services and free medical attention,” she said.
Ms. Mumba alleged that sometimes, even after payment is made, the institution does not provide medicines but gives a prescription, a situation she said is not right.
And one of the patients talked to, Mwape Kasanda, suggested that government could get rid of the youth empowerment funds and channel the money to critical sectors of the economy such as health.
“If the money is used in health institutions, it would help reduce the number of deaths recorded therefore government should take this into consideration,” said Kasanda.
Meanwhile, Chisha Chisha, a mother who was waiting to be discharged from the maternity ward, said it was okay for government to charge for certain services but not maternity deliveries.
Ms. Chisha said this move will discourage many women from giving birth at health institutions.
She added that members of public run to government institutions to get free treatment because everyone there is treated equally but what is obtaining at the moment at NTH is disheartening.
She has since urged government and the relevant authorities to look into the matter before people resort to staying at home for fear of not affording medical fees when they fall ill.
And Ndola Teaching Hospital (NTH) Senior Medical Superintendent Joseph Musowoya refuted the allegations saying it is not all services at the institution that are paid for.
Dr. Musowoya noted that only services such as x-rays, lab samples, scans among others are paid for.
He said payments for certain services instill responsibility in the usage of drugs by patients and also contribute to revenue collection for day to day running of hospitals.
He has since appealed to members of the public to register under National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIMA) in order to ease payments at the institution.
Have they explained why the said amount is being charged??
Hak court this be true?
This will spike into something bad if they do not explain why they are charging that zali
People should pay for services….free things won’t take us anywhere..even rich countries people pay for services somehow…..I wonder why be pregnant 9 months and fail to produce a K100…really, is this child’s future safe???people be serious….I just don’t get the relation with the deformity part…but people be serious….it takes much more to run a hospital…
It’s not everything that you can have for free, even at church you need to pay for the upkeep of the Priest, water, electricity, furniture, property rates, building cleaning and repairs. Some people want to go to church to pray and pee in the clean loo without paying any offering. It doesn’t work like that. You can’t reschedule a delivery. Most of these government hospital don’t have anything to keep them going. Maternity and mortuary are very important. When the mortuary breaks down it’s an emergency. Midwives need to disinfect the maternity ward and they can’t wait for the irregular GRZ grant. If you don’t pay you’ll begin to pick infections at the hospitals. So help health service providers to serve you. Under PF MoH has become a death and disease factory, what with expired…
They need money to pay Chilufya’s HoneyBee medical cartel.
Charge them K100. Also antenatal education to Zambian mothers should be mandatory, in fact add their husbands. After that sue the hospital for discrimination. This is tiring. In Zambia CEOs are useless most of the time.
Arrest them. Dont even waste time.
The mentality of all things free should be rid of.
Is there a law that all government owned buildings in Zambia should never be painted after construction?
Just take a look at Ndola, Kitwe central hospitals, Unza, Revenue house, zimco etc