Govt’s poor management of funds worry health workers
By Misheck Wangwe
Sun 28 Nov. 2010, 04:01 CAT
THE Health Workers Union of Zambia says the rampant misappropriation of Global Funds in the health sector is due to the government’s poor management of resources.
Union general secretary Lewis Mukosha said it was sad that the country was ranked among the most corrupt due to the government’s failure to curb the embezzlement of funds by corrupt officers in the health system.
Mukosha said the union had on several occasions advised the government to come up with stringent monitoring mechanisms to safeguard donor funds and ensure that they served the intended purpose but nothing much had been done.
He said the government had been reluctant in the fight against corruption and misuse of funds.
Mukosha said there was need for President Rupiah Banda to ensure that people entrusted with public offices in the health sector were accountable and that culprits must be reprimanded.
He said many poor people had lost their lives because of selfish individuals who had misused funds meant for drugs in hospitals.
“The misuse of funds in the health sector is real and President Banda should not even vent anger on donors who are giving us money but work towards removing corrupt individuals in his government.
Let’s clear our name as a country because our image has been dented. We expect government to come up with strict monitoring mechanisms to ensure accountability in the health sector,” said Mukosha in an interview.
He said it would be difficult for the country to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis without donor aid, hence the need for the government to attach seriousness to principles of accountability.
He said many people in rural areas lacked essential drugs because of misuse of funds by disgruntled officials in the health sector.
Mukosha said the health sector would become a disaster in the near future if the government did not take the necessary steps to restore donor confidence.
He said manoeuvres to remove the abuse of office clause from the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Act by the MMD government were retrogressive especially that donors wanted to see the government’s commitment towards curbing rampant misuse of funds.
“Corrupt government officials in the health sector were busy embezzling funds with the law in place.
Imagine the misuse that will be there with the removal of this important clause. It will be a disaster for the health sector and President Banda himself,” said Mukosha.
Labels: ACC, HEALTHCARE, LEWIS MUKOSHA
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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
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Nawakwi is saying the truth - pastor Zulu
By Chibaula Silwamba and Moses Kuwema
Thu 01 Apr. 2010, 04:01 CAT
Pastor Rabson Zulu of Mandevu Baptist Church yesterday said what FDD president Edith Nawakwi said about lack of medicines in some clinics in Lusaka is true. In a walk-in interview, Pastor Zulu urged the government to take what Nawakwi had said seriously because it was the real issue on the ground.
"Madam Nawakwi is speaking the truth. She is not mad...some clinics have no medicines. I am a BP high blood pressure patient myself and I always buy my own medicine because whenever I go to Matero referal health centre they always give me prescriptions instead of medicines," pastor Zulu said.
Recently, Nawakwi expressed concern on poor health service delivery.
But President Rupiah Banda and chief government spokesperson Lt Gen Ronnie Shikapwasha rubbished Nawakwi's observations.
President Banda said: “You don't go to one clinic and you don't find medicine there, then you say, 'there is no medicine in the clinics!' That is madness.”
And Health Workers Union of Zambia (HWUZ) yesterday charged that the government has built beautiful clinics and hospitals that look like hotels but without sufficient equipment and medical personnel to serve the people.
Commenting on Nawakwi's concern that the situation in clinics in Lusaka and other parts of Zambia was deplorable and government's rebuttal of the statement, HWUZ general secretary Lewis Mukosha acknowledged the inadequacies in provision of medical services, which he attributed to lack of equipment and shortage of health workers.
“With the health reforms that have been carried out in this country, we have come up with very beautiful buildings as clinics and hospitals. The most devastating part is that these clinics are looking like hotels, but they don't have the equipment which our communities can appreciate. Secondly, there is no human resource,” said Mukosha in an interview.
“The buildings are so beautiful but without staff and equipment. We want to commend the government for having built these beautiful buildings. We urge the government to ensure that it provides human resource. The government must provide the equipment for health personnel to use.”
Mukosha also expressed concern about the brain drain in the health sector and challenged the government to address the problem.
“Government should ensure that they motivate those health workers in order to retain them or else we are mopping the floor when the tap is running. We are training medical personnel at a cost and at the end of the course, they all go for greener pastures. In the end, we are the same people that are crying that 'we are training people; they go out,'” said Mukosha.
“What is happening now is that even the tutors that are training them are also running out. So we have a shortage of tutors in training schools.”
Labels: EDITH NAWAKWI, HEALTHCARE, LEWIS MUKOSHA, NEOLIBERALISM, RABSON ZULU
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Zambia is far from reaching MDG on health – Mukosha
By Zumani Katasefa
Sun 08 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT
HEALTH Workers Union of Zambia secretary general Lewis Mukosha has said Zambia is far from reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the health sector under President Rupiah Banda’s administration.
Commenting on President Banda’s performance over the past one year he has been in office, Mukosha said the health sector had suffered major setbacks ever since the President Banda took power.
“The withdrawal of donor funding has hit the health sector hard. We appeal to President Banda to ensure that the health sector is funded with local resources,” he said.
Mukosha further said due to insufficient funding, most colleges that train health personnel were operating at half capacity.
“Look at Chairman training college, it is operating at half capacity. We are supposed to have direct entrants from grade 12, but that has been put on hold because the funds were coming from donors,” said Mukosha. “The President should ensure that the health sector is properly funded, using local resources, otherwise Zambia is far from reaching the Millennium Development Goals under President Banda’s leadership.”
Labels: LEWIS MUKOSHA, MDGs, RUPIAH BANDA
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