Zambia April 2006 |
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| Government failure to deploy graduate doctors, (Post of Zambia, 2006-04-16):-The shortage of health workers in sub-Saharan Africa has been a subject of serious discussion in the past week. Zambia in particular has been affected by the shortage of health workers for various reasons. Long queues continue to characterise many public health institutions in the country. The recent scrapping of user fees in rural area has put an additional strain on health care services. It has been belaboured time and again that health workers were under pressure to provide services to the people. However, a twist to the story is the health workers who have been complaining about the government's delay to deploy them to their workstations. Over 80 graduate doctors, pharmacist, physiotherapists and biomedical scientists, who completed their studies in February 2006 and were inducted on March 31, were on Thursday found still waiting to be deployed to various provinces for their internships. Graduate doctors who spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity say it is distressing that they are not yet in their areas of operation. "We finished almost two months ago and the Ministry of Health has been aware of our postings. There are 40 doctors who graduated and 20 are supposed to be here at UTH, 10 of us are supposed to be in Kitwe, and 10 others are supposed to go to Ndola Central Hospital," they said. "Now the problem that we have had is that despite all these things having been done, we haven't seen any progress in as far as our movement from this place is concerned." The doctors were still occupying student rooms hence denying accommodation to returning students. According to University of Zambia medical students union (UNZAMEDSU) president Abidan Chansa, one third of the students who returned to campus were not accommodated because the rooms were still taken up by graduates. The doctors say they will only leave campus accommodation when they were are posted to their various stations. "We are currently still occupying rooms which are supposed to be occupied by students who have since reported back to school. So we are holding them back. All we want is to be moved from here so that were can go and take up our postings where we are supposed to go. We were told that the major challenge was transport. Several people were contacted to help with the transportation but up to now we haven't seen anything," they said. "All the luggage was outside here, and people were assured that they would be leaving for the Copperbelt. As far as I know there is nobody working yet. Even those who are going to UTH haven't started work. We still don't know what problems are there. We're just waiting." The doctors say they are anxious to go to work so that they can be of service to the people, particularly in light of the shortage of doctors in most public health institutions. "We are wasting our time here, we would like to go and serve. We would like to go and help out there," they say. And earlier in the week, a medical doctor accused the Zambian government of not being serious in solving health problems in the country. Dr Jewado Banda, who returned to Zambia after working abroad for over 15 years, said government was not employing health professionals who were returning to the country. Dr Banda said workers that applied for employment as far back as August last year had still not been employed. "Health workers that were employed in 2004 are not yet on the payroll and they have to subsist on meagre allowances of K500,000 per month. Surely, can one live on that kind of money," he asks. He also challenged health minister Sylvia Masebo to name workers that have been employed in the last 2 years. Dr Banda said the conditions of work for doctors and other health workers have not changed, as they remained very low. "Salaries are very low compared to what obtains in other countries. Junior doctors here get under K2 million after tax. In Botswana, they take home K9 million after deductions. South Africa and Namibia pay slightly higher. Government is offering K700,000 for accommodation. For this kind of money one cannot rent a house in a decent area. How can you encourage people to come back like this," he asked. He said while doctors in Zambia struggle to buy second hand Japanese cars, doctors elsewhere could afford to buy brand new cars. Dr Banda said hospitals and clinics continue to lack even basic equipment such as thermometers. He said junior doctors in 2002 were dismissed for demanding better facilities for patients but equipment was still unavailable. Dr Banda further condemned the government's move to sign agreements that bar other countries from employing Zambian doctors. "This move was very retrogressive. Why do they seek treatment outside if things are good here?" asked Dr Banda. "Doctors can only be stopped from leaving if our government gives them similar conditions." Meanwhile, during a visit by health minister Sylvia Masebo to Chainama Hospital on Thursday, one of the patients who declined to be named said she had been on the queue from 09:00 hours to 13:00. The woman, who was found waiting in the queue complained that it took long before people could attend to her. She further went on to complain that instead of doing x-rays free of charge, patients were sometimes asked to pay. On April 7 last week, Zambia was the main launch site for the World Health Day commemoration under the theme "Working Together for Health" and focused on the shortages of health workers. | |
South African Migration Project (SAMP) - Queen's University - http://www.queensu.ca/samp |