Maravi

HWUZ urges Rupiah to address health workers’ plight

HWUZ urges Rupiah to address health workers’ plight
By Misheck Wangwe in Kitwe
Thu 23 Sep. 2010, 10:30 CAT

HEALTH Workers Union of Zambia (HWUZ) general secretary Lewis Mukosha yesterday challenged President Rupiah Banda to demonstrate true leadership by ensuring that there is a substantial salary increment for health workers in the country.

In an interview, Mukosha said the union had submitted to the Salaries Review Commission that the government should consider increasing remunerations for health workers by 60 per cent.

Mukosha said the salaries of majority health workers in the country were very low and there was no meaningful political will from the government to address the challenges that the workers were facing.

He said effective health delivery in Zambia could only be achieved if the government attached great importance to the plight of workers in the health sector.

“The salaries for workers in the health sector are bad, very few workers go home with more than K1.8 million. These paramedics, nurses and physiotherapists you see around, they really struggle in their lives because their conditions are bad. We have been calling on government for a long time now to give us a substantial increment, but it seems there is no political will from government,” Mukosha said.

“They are talking about effective health delivery but this cannot be achieved if health workers are not motivated. We expect President Banda to work towards attending to the plight of health workers if he wants to enhance effectiveness in this sector.”

Mukosha said health workers also expected the government to be consistent in the release of critical allowances such as subsistence, upkeep and uniform allowances.

Labels: HEALTHCARE, HWUZ, LEWIS MUKOSHA, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:53 PM