Doctors still not happy with their conditions of service - Dr Makasa

Doctors still not happy with their conditions of service - Dr Makasa
By Inonge Noyoo
Tuesday April 10, 2007 [04:00]

RESIDENT Doctors Association UTH branch president Dr Musonda Makasa has said many doctors are still not happy with their working conditions. And Dr Makasa has said it is encouraging to have leaders like first Republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda using the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) for medical reviews and check-ups


In an interview, Dr Makasa said the low salaries, housing allowances and problems of accommodation were still a big problem among the doctors.

He said under normal circumstances doctors were supposed to stay nearby the hospital but the UTH set up did not allow the arrangement and as such many doctors stay in far off places.
He said much as the car loan scheme was a good programme, it was a drop in the ocean and wondered what anyone would do with a car without fuel.

"Many doctors are still not satisfied with the general services. Right now only senior doctors are entitled to fuel levy and yet if there is an emergency even junior doctors are expected to go to the hospital. So if one has no fuel and they live as far as Villa Wanga how are they expected to get to the clinic?" he asked.

Dr Makasa said doctors are heavily constrained and as a result many of them were leaving the country.

He said many doctors we still leaving the country in huge numbers and it was frightening.

Dr Makasa said many doctors also lacked essential laboratory facilities and equipment to help them deliver health services.
He said UTH needed a major facelift if it was to improve from the current standards.

"An institution like UTH is supposed to be an in-house or sort of self-contained such that if there is a problem everything is done swiftly and in the same place. At moment, UTH has only got one CD scanner in the radiology department which is also usually on and off and has not been operative for a long time," he said.

Dr Makasa said because of lack of equipment, the doctors at the institution were deprived.

He said there was need for all stakeholders in the health sector to come to a realisation that more still needed to be done and draw up a work plan.

"We need to sit down and draw up operational plans which should be long-term. As doctors we have for a long time tried our best to provide the little with meagre resources but we still feel UTH should be the institution that it was supposed to be," he said.

And Dr Makasa said there was need to invest in UTH so that even leaders could receive treatment and health care from the institution. "When we see Chiluba and Dr Kaunda coming to UTH for review we feel very encouraged and it enhances motivation. And we feel, if there is investment no one will need to be flown out because the know-how and expertise is there," said Dr Makasa.