Health Minister Kapembwa Simbao has told Parliament that his ministry would recruit 1, 500 new health workers this month using the K13.6 billion from the K1 trillion 2011 budgetary allocation to fill the 3,000 vacancies in the ministry.
Mr Simbao told the House yesterday that the 2011 budget allocation to the Ministry of Health had been increased as compared to last year’s allocation given to the ministry.
He said the increase in the 2011 budgetary allocation would cushion the deficit which the Ministry experienced when donors withdrew their funding from Government last year.
Mr Simbao said this when he presented a policy statement to Parliament.
ZANIS reports that he assured the House that Government would no longer depend on extra funding from donors with the increased budgetary allocation from the Ministry of Finance and National Planning which boosted the allocation by 30 percent .
Mr Simbao stressed that the increased budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Health signified the beginning of its economic independence.
The Minister noted that his ministry needed to work hard and to ensure that more health personnel in health respective centres were provided with drugs and medical equipment countrywide.
Mr. Simbao further told Parliament that out of the allocated budget, K14.3billion will be used in infrastructure development, K52 billion will be used for the recruitment of health personnel in the Ministry across the country.
He noted that 323 health posts were ready for commissioning by December this year adding that Government in the budget had added 123 health posts adding that the need for health posts was huge.
Mr. Simbao said President Rupiah Banda had since directed the Ministry to build health centres on every 5 kilometre and near a school in communities countrywide.
He told the House that it was Government and President Banda’s desire to take health services closer to people’s families and to reach 95 percent of Zambians in rural areas by 2015.
The Minister however, noted that Government would continue building hospitals in all the districts in the country adding that out of 31 hospitals, 22 hospitals would be first level class hospital.
[ ZANIS ]
