The opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) says the country’s healthcare sector is broken and are promising to fix it once elected into power.
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema cited staffing shortges as one of the major challenges the sector is facing, with just one doctor for every 12,000 Zambians, compared to the international standard of one for every 5,000 people, and a nursing shortage of over 23,000.
He noted that the country is losing a lot of staff that go to work overseas because they are poorly remunerated for their service here in Zambia, despite working in tough conditions.
Hichilema further observes that those who stay are overworked and operate in a demotivating environment with equipment shortages, long delays in payment of allowances and empty promises from government of land and motor vehicle schemes.
He regrets that despite these shortages, there are trained personnel yet to be deployed as it usually takes up to six months for doctors to be added to the payroll, something says should take a matter of hours not months.
He however says the UPND will fix this through implementation of its 10 Point Plan, starting by increasing the share of the national budget spent on health from the PF low of 8.3% up to 15%.
“A healthy nation is a productive nation so we consider this to be an investment not an expense,” said Hichilema in a statement.
“We will use this additional resources to invest in staff on the one hand and equipment and medical supplies on the other. We will provide training opportunities and internships through partnership with local and international organisations that enable our staff to specialize and expand their skill sets here in Zambia. We will retain staff through clear career progression for medical staff and a programme of incentives.
“We will also reduce the strain on the sector by investing in primary preventive health care such as provision of running water and sanitation, and under a UPND Government every hospital and clinic will have a source of power back up to guard against load shedding as a matter of urgent priority.
“The health and wellbeing of the people must be a top priority for any government, yet the PF has been too focused on the health and wellbeing of a small handful of individuals. This will not be the UPND approach. We want change,” he said.
i hate people who say ‘i will fix it’ instead of ‘we will fix it’. any way yhis guy is not different from donald trush or tramp
Zambian Healthcare System
If the Zambia healthcare system is broken, we need to vote wisely for someone who will help us fix it because the health and wellbeing of the people must be a top priority for the government.
The subject of healthcare is important to the Zambian people because we want our people to enjoy longer, healthier lives at low costs. We want our people to have well balanced diets and low infant mortality rates.
Optimum good healthcare in Zambia will be achieved by having universal healthcare coverage consisting of three categories of insurance: employer based insurance, national insurance, and insurance for the elderly. These programs should be financed mainly by the Zambian government and private employers and not just by the government or private employers
We would also do well to invest in research which will focus on the lifestyles and healthcare coverage of the Zambian society.
Zambia is not overpopulated. So we see no reason why even with such a small population of about 13 million people, we still have no well balanced nutrition. We need to find a way of encouraging our people to uphold practices of eating foods with low levels of fats and lower levels of salt. Decreasing the amounts of salt in our diets reduces the chances of getting hypertension and diabetes.
At this point allow me to dwell a bit more details on how we can reduce infant mortality in Zambia because current data set shows that Neonatal Mortality Rate stands at 34 per 1,000 live births, Infant Mortality Rate at 70 per 1,000 live births, Under-5 Mortality Rate at 119 per 1,000 live births and Maternal Mortality Rate which stands at 591 per 100,000 live births.
In order to reduce infant mortality rates in Zambia, we should find a way of ensuring that births occur to women between the ages of 25-29. We also need to find a way of ensuring that a higher percentage of births in Zambia are attended by qualified professionals. We also need to encourage our people to seek medical advice early on in their pregnancies. And we would do well to provides systems of community support and education from time of conception.
Dreamers wait for 2099,, maybe or forget. Inaugural awaits ECL 14 August 2016.
ING’OMBE ILEDE, YOU’RE THE ONE WHO IS NOT ONLY DREAMING BUT STUPIDLY SNORING. POOR DOCILE ZAMBIAN.
way to go..shopw them how to govern not steal..and brutalise Zambians..viva real change