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Deputy Minister of Health, Patrick Chikusu has advised health workers who are not interested in delivering required and proper health services to their clients to resign from their positions.
Dr Chikusu said it is not right for uninterested personnel to continue practicing in a profession that requires immediate attention and dedication.
He said this when he met health workers in Mumbwa district, yesterday.
The Deputy Minister who was in the district to check on the delivery of health services and the existing human resource said the Patriotic Front government has placed health a top its agenda because good health is a prerequisite to national development.
He said it is therefore, important for health workers to work in tandem with government by ensuring that they raise the standards of health care in the country.
Dr Chikusu also cautioned the workers to desist from charging user fees saying they should heed the government directive so that more people can access primary health care.
‘’Medical user fees have been scrapped off and it is important that you all follow suit. Primary Health Care Package must not be paid for. I mean, these things are real and must be curtailed. There should be no compromise on user fees, so be warned and do the correct thing,’’ he said.
Dr Chikusu also warned management against the use of Classified Daily Employees, CDEs, to administer injections and other health services to the patients.
He said at no time should unqualified personnel be allowed to administer any form of health service to the patients as this can be costly and deadly to both the hospital and the concerned personnel.
‘’Qualified health personnel are the only ones mandated to administer injections and prescribe drugs to patients. You should not put the patients’ life at risk by allowing untrained persons to handle the patients. This must stop immediately because there are enough medical personnel to take care of all medical issues,’’ he said.
And Dr Chikusu finally disclosed that the PF government has reserved a substantive amount of money to build more health infrastructure, create jobs and provide enough transport in health institutions countrywide.
He said last year, 2,300 health workers were deployed to various parts of the country and that government spent about K77 billion (KR77 million) on the recruitment exercise and that this year alone, government will spend K35 billion on the recruitment of more health workers.
Dr Chikusu therefore, appealed to the health workers to change their mind-set and ensure efficiency in their service delivery as there are high expectations from the government in as far as the provision of health care is concerned.
And Provincial Medical Officer, Dickson Suya has assured government that management will ensure that quality health services are delivered.
Dr Suya said there are competent health personnel in the province to handle comprehensive health cases and that his office will ensure that all patients are handled by qualified staff.
‘’I can assure you Doctor that the Province will provide quality health services to all clients and at no time are we going to allow untrained persons to handle our clients. We have enough man-power and medical utensils to handle all health issues at our disposal,’’ he said.
And Mumbwa District Medical Superintendent, Reward Sibanda has welcomed government’s decision to offset the K160 billion (KR160 million) owed to workers in terms of arrears.
Dr Sibanda said the gesture will not only restore confidence but also motivate the workers who have for a long time been complaining about unsettled arrears.
He said health workers at Mumbwa District Hospital alone are owed over K5 billion (KR5 million) in arrears.
‘’As Mumbwa District Hospital, we are grateful to government that the long outstanding arrears owed to the workers by our ministry are yet to be settled. We welcome this move because a lot of the workers are owed huge sums of money in terms of leave days, long service bonuses and other personal emoluments amounting to K5 billion (KR5 million) in total.
