Maravi

Karashani advises student doctors to uphold ethics

Karashani advises student doctors to uphold ethics
By Agness Changala
Saturday July 26, 2008 [11:00]

UNIVERSITY of Zambia Medical Students (UNZAMEDSA) patron Professor Karashani has urged student doctors not to let down the profession by failing to adhere to medical ethics. During the UNZAMEDSA mentorship day the ‘Medical ethics’, Prof Karashani told the students that a positive attitude towards patients, colleagues and the public would enable them to become very good and respectable.

"Develop a positive attitude towards your patients by listening to their concerns," he said. "You must build the confidentiality by ensuring that when you know something about them, you will not leak the information."

Prof Karashani emphasised the need for doctors to maintain good behaviour and attitude, saying the two were paramount to their profession.

"Behave and look like a professional," he said. "Don't come to work drunk because the public will lose confidence in you."
Prof Karashani urged the student doctors to learn to carry out their work with mutual respect and that they should not criticise each other in the presence of the public or the patients.

And UNZAMEDSA president Ephraim Munsaka appealed to health minister Dr Brian Chituwo to provide hepatitis B vaccines, a drug that prevents medical personnel from contracting diseases they are exposed to when they are working on patients.
Munsaka said the drug was important as it protected health practitioners by creating antibodies.

"We are exposed to blood products and to save ourselves from contracting different diseases we handle, we have to use this drug," he said.

Munsaka also called on the government and UNZA management to deal with the pending go-slow at the institution, saying the effect had also spread to their school.

UNZAMEDSA projects director Ndaludza Masiye bemoaned the poor infrastructure at the institution and appealed to the government and other donor organisations to assist them.

Masiye said most of their programmes had suffered as Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ), which used to fund them had stopped.
"We have a new building for the library but it needs refurbishing and the computer lab also only has about two computers," said Masiye.

Labels: HEALTHCARE, UNZAMEDSA

posted by MrK @ 2:31 PM