Soldiers take over at UTH

Soldiers take over at UTH
Written by George Chellah, Masuzyo Chakwe and George Zulu
Saturday, June 13, 2009 4:12:40 PM

CHIEF government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha yesterday said the government has deployed military medical personnel at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) to cushion the impact of the strike action by health workers. And Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the medical situation has not reached a crisis stage.

Meanwhile, Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) president Dr Crispin Moyo maintained that the strike by doctors would continue as long as the government does not respond to their demands. In an interview, Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the Ministry of Health was engaging military medical personnel where it felt the need.

"They have engaged a number of military personnel from Maina Soko Military Hospital to assist and others may come in from the Zambia National Service (ZNS) and the Zambia Air Force (ZAF)," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government had also opened up the police hospital for patients from outside.

"This has been done to decongest UTH. They are working according to manpower available," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

He said the medical personnel must go back to work unless there was a political agenda.

"The medical situation in the country requires that we save lives. That's why Florence Nightingale started the nursing profession," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the government was doing everything possible to ensure that the medical staff return to work.

"This is the only government in the world which gives an increment during a recession. I haven't heard of any in the world. Even the US, despite all the money, it has not done this," he said.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha advised The Post to bring out the issues the government was raising so that people go back to work.

"People must go back and help other Zambians so that they don't die. The medical personnel must be patriotic enough," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said. "That includes you The Post, whether you want the government to fall, our people must continue to be treated."

Lt Gen Shikapwasha said the medical situation in the country had not reached a crisis stage.

"It is a situation that is of great concern," he said.

He said the situation in Kasama was improving.

But Dr Moyo said by yesterday, there had been no feedback from the government on the strike and maintained that the strike would continue as long as the government did not respond to their demands.

"So far, there has been no response from the Ministry of Health and we are even attending our annual general meeting now. So the strike will continue," said Dr Moyo.

And Zambia Union of financial Institutions and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) president Joyce Nonde-Simukoko attributed the continued strike by health workers and civil servants throughout the country to leadership failure by both the government and union leaders.

The strike by health workers, doctors and teachers has continued paralysing institutions throughout the country.

Nonde-Simukoko called on the government to immediately call for a tripartite meeting to discuss the way forward as innocent people were suffering.

She said the union appreciated what the workers were going through as they had been sacrificing since the 1990s.

She appealed to all striking workers to rescind their decision and go back to work because it was ordinary people that were suffering.

"I was at UTH over the weekend and it was agony there. Life should not be lost. We are appealing to the government to immediately call for a tripartite meeting and discuss the way forward. What is happening is leadership failure both from the union and the leadership. Keeping quiet is not helping at all. People are dying and we should not be getting pleasure in that," she said.

Meanwhile, some teachers in Monze have vowed not to go back for work despite national union leaders and government signing a collective bargaining agreement citing betrayal and alleged corruption involved in the manner the process was being handled.

Some teachers said yesterday that they were disappointed with the outcome of the bargaining process and would not report back for work until a better deal was given as demanded for.

"We will hold a meeting on Monday next week where all these issues you are asking would be addressed. It is the members who decided and resolved to go on strike and it was not us union leaders so please can you wait for Monday and you will see what the workers will resolve," said SESTUZ Southern Province chairman Collins Malambo in interview when asked to comment on the out come of the negotiations.

And a check at various schools in Monze revealed that teachers were not working while pupils were busy playing football and wandering about the school premises.

At Monze Secondary School, only heads of departments were teaching while at Tagore, Monze town, Monze Basic and Manungu Basic schools, pupils had no one to attend to them.

Teachers talked to on condition of anonymity expressed disappointment at what they described as unfaithful conduct exhibited by their national union leaders during the negotiation process.

"We shall show them that we are ready to face whoever want to take us to our graves early by giving us peanuts and demonising wages. Let them employ their children and subject them to harsh conditions of service. We have been tolerant for a long time and we cannot continue to sacrifice when others are not doing so. It is really sad that our union leaders have continued to betray us. But we have to warn them that they have just started the fire which will be difficult to put out," the annoyed teachers said.

And Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) information management and networking officer Nshindano Kryticous said the current high incidence of strikes and other forms of work stoppages in Zambia were a reflection on the performance and competence of the government who bear the responsibility of managing the affairs and resources of the country.

He said the fact that the government appeared to delay to firmly resolving the nationwide strike was an issue of concern for CSPR.

Kryticous said such practices did not foster the trust needed between the government, the social partners and civil society.

Kryticous urged the government to quickly examine the budgetary impact of the health workers' demands and come up with long lasting solutions to ensure the workers' rights are being met. He said part of the solution would lie in putting stringent mechanisms that would avoid misappropriation and misapplication of funds as recently witnessed with the purchase of 100 hearses and embezzlement of funds by workers at the Ministry of Health.

He said the government and individuals entrusted with national resources should be transparent and accountable to the Zambian people and be able to manage resources in a prudent manner that would ensure efficient allocation of resources for economic and social development towards the attainment of the MDGs and Vision 2030.