Medical body proposes budget increase to lure staff
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Tue 04 Sep. 2012, 19:11 CAT
THE Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) has proposed that the 2013 health budget should be increased from the current 9.3 per cent of the total national budget to 15 per cent. And the RDAZ says the creation of new districts would be a positive development if properly planned and in consultation with all key stakeholders.
Association president Whyson Munga said funding to the Ministry of Health in the 2013 National Budget ought to move to 15 per cent of the total national budget in accordance with the Abuja Declaration if significant differences in the health delivery have to be seen from next year onwards.
Dr Munga said the health system was still the same today with the same challenges of inadequate funding, inadequate and sometimes very erratic medical and surgical supplies.
He said this was coupled with demotivated staff and a critical shortage of frontline health workers such as medical doctors, clinical officers and nurses with the country operating with only 50 per cent of the required numbers.
Dr Munga said the training institutions for these critical workers had also continued to receive inadequate financial support for expansion, quality education and research.
He said it took long to train and produce health professionals, "perhaps the five year-term of a government could finish without seeing its own products".
Dr Munga said efforts of investing in such should be seen at the earliest possible time by any government that comes into power.
"There is however hope that in the next three to five years, the burden of human resource shortages will be reduced as Copperbelt Medical School and privately owned health training institutions such as Apex Medical School, Cavendish Medical School, start graduating additional frontline health professionals," he said.
On new districts, Dr Munga said the imminent mistake was that the declaration was entirely being made by the Republican President without consultation with important stakeholders, hence causing a would-be universally acceptable idea to be viewed as a political ploy.
He said the result of this political method of creating new districts was that no budgetary support was attached to the declaration but people had to run about to start operationalising these new districts using the already scarce monetary and human resources circulating in the unfortunate nearest old existing districts.
"One hopes that all the new districts to be formed in the near future will be planned for in terms of monetary allocations and human resource," he said.
However, Dr Munga said government would be able to decentralise development and bring service delivery closest to the people by way of trying to meet the minimum standards of services befitting a district status in all the newly created districts.
"In respect to health delivery, this can bring about construction of a new district hospital in each of the newly created districts. The accessibility of curative district hospital health services can be made easy to the majority of poor Zambians, especially in the countryside," he said.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, RDAZ, SALARIES
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Doctors to issue comprehensive statement over strike
By Kombe Chimpinde
Sun 03 Oct. 2010, 13:40 CAT
The Residents Doctors Association (RDAZ) have said that they will issue a compressive statement regarding the countrywide strike action staged by the medics which entered its seventh day.
Acting RDAZ president Amos Ngongolo confirmed this development to Post online today. The decision to address the nation comes after a meeting held between the Association’s representatives and government on Wednesday last week.
“The resident Doctors Association will tomorrow issue a comprehensive statement on the strike to clarify several issues regarding the strike so we will not comment on Dr Kanganja's request to us to address the nation what what was discussed in the meeting we had,” Ngongo said yesterday.
Earlier in an interview Secretary to the Cabinet Dr Joshua Kanganja challenged the acting resident doctors president Ngongolo to tell the nation why the doctors are not implementing what was agreed upon in the meeting it had with government.
“We are not negotiating any more. You should call and ask Mr Ngongolo about what we discussed in the meeting on Monday. He is the representative of the Resident Doctors Association. He must be able to tell the nation what we had agreed on Monday and why the doctors have not implemented what was discussed,” Kanganja said.
When asked to give what government's position was in the meeting that took place at his office between government and the resident doctors, Kanganja said it was for the resident doctors to tell the nation what was discussed in the meeting.
“All I can say is that we had meaningful discussion with the representatives of the resident Doctors so you ask Ngongolo what we discussed and why that has been a change of things,” he said.
On Monday RDAZ acting president, Amon Ngongolo said at a Press briefing that his members had unanimously resolved to withdraw labour with immediate effect.
Labels: AMOS NGONGOLO, DOCTORS, RDAZ, STRIKE
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RDAZ urges local funding of health sector
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sun 03 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT
RESIDENT Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) president Dr Crispin Moyo has said some effects of the recent withdrawal of funding by lead donors to the Ministry of Health will be felt in the future.
And Dr Moyo said there was need to start thinking and putting in place measures to ensure that the budget for the health sector is locally funded. In an interview, Dr Moyo said 2009 had both positive and negative aspects in relation to the health sector.
He said on a positive note, health workers managed to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality rates despite working under difficult conditions.
However, Dr Moyo said the negative part was the withdrawal of funding to the health sector by major donors.
He said this had a lot of ripple effects as service delivery was affected because grants were scaled down or delayed.
Dr Moyo said the withdrawal of funding affected most district hospitals in the country.
The donors have however resumed funding to the Ministry of Health after several meetings with the government on possibilities of having the misappropriated money replaced.
On infrastructure development, Dr Moyo said there was a drawback because of the withdrawal of funding.
“In-service training was adversely affected as there was a drop in the number of health workers to be trained by the government. The effects of this will not be seen now but in the future when we start complaining about lack of specialists in various fields. We are told that next year, the government will not sponsor any in-service training. This will be difficult for health workers who have already been accepted to go because they will not have support from the government,” he said.
He said even if the hospitals had the equipment, there were no specialists in all the fields.
Dr Moyo said there was need to start thinking of how the budget for the health sector should be locally funded.
“This means the government getting its own resources instead of depending on donors. We need to improve on accountability on how to handle public resources and those charged looking after the treasury because the people that are worse affected are the people at the grassroots,” he said.
Dr Moyo said they had also exhausted discussions on improved conditions of service with the government and left it to the unions to conclude. He hoped the negotiations would be fruitful. Dr Moyo said there was still a shortage of doctors in the public sector which currently stood at about
800.
He said Zambia needed about 1,800 doctors and managed to send some Zambian doctor in all the districts of the country. Dr Moyo said more Zambian doctors would soon be sent to operate in rural areas.
Labels: DOCTORS, HEALTHCARE, RDAZ
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Doctors to chart way forward today
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe and Charles Mangwato
Monday, June 15, 2009 3:06:11 PM
RESIDENT doctors will today meet to discuss the way forward on the strike following a meeting they had with Ministry of Health officials yesterday. Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) president Dr Crispin Moyo yesterday said the doctors' representatives had a 'productive meeting' with the health minister Kapembwa Simbao.
"We went through all the issues the doctors are complaining about. And tomorrow we are meeting to discuss with our members because today the meeting was just for the leaders," he said.
Dr Moyo said they were not given anything and would only be able to determine if the doctors would resume work after their meeting tomorrow.
Zambia Medical Association (ZMA) president Dr Maureen Chisembele said the way forward would be known after the leaders meet with the doctors today.
Most health institutions have remained closed following the strike.
And about half of the nurses who undertake night duties at Choma general hospital fall sick after completing their night shifts because of poor working environment.
Submitting to a visiting parliamentary committee on health, community development and social welfare chaired by Chikankanta UPND member of parliament Munji Haabenzu, district director of health Dr Rhoda Mkandawire said 50 per cent of the nurses were usually taken ill after completing their night shifts.
Dr Mkandawire said this was because the hospital wards had no proper ventilation resulting in nurses contracting diseases.
"The rate of sickness of nurses due to poor ventilation is quite high because of suffocation in the wards," she told the committee.
"Even myself as a medical doctor when I am doing rounds, I find it
extremely difficult because I have to come out of the ward for fresh air after seeing five patients and then go back again."
She explained that the institution was never designated as a hospital but a tobacco ban, hence the current unsuitable infrastructural setup, which did not befit a general hospital.
"If you look at the way the wards are arranged, you will see that the facilities were not meant for a hospital. The maternity ward is far away from the theatre and expectant mothers have to be wheeled in the open to the theatre in case of an emergence," she said.
Dr Mkandawire said several inspectors who had visited the institution had condemned the structures.
She said the district required a new hospital but raised concern at a decision to approve funding for a district hospital when the current status of the institution was that of a general hospital.
"Choma is centrally located and carters for surrounding districts and therefore to build a district hospital will be like reversing what we planned to achieved in the vision 2030. We need a new general hospital and not a district hospital because of the growing population and demand for health services," she said.
And also submitting to the committee, hospital acting manager for administration Frederick Katundu said the hospital needed about K 240 million to overhaul the run-down sewer system, which had been posing a major challenge.
Katundu said blockages due to worn out sewer pipe lines was causing serious sanitation challenges at the institution.
"Every so often, our toilets stop functioning because the system is too old and needs replacing," he said.
Katundu said while efforts by government were underway to build a new hospital, there was urgent need for funds to tackle the current sewer problems.
Choma UPND member of parliament George Chazangwe who commended medical personnel for doing their best and sacrificing to work under trying conditions, said a new general hospital must be built.
"Even when you want to build a chicken run, there is a proper way it is organised. This situation at Choma General Hospital where the infrastructure was that of a tobacco ban cannot be allowed to continue.
In Kabwe, a kitchen at Kabwe General Hospital has been gutted by fire.
Hospital executive director Dr Yotam Phiri yesterday confirmed that the kitchen had been completely gutted.
According to sources, fire started in the night but fortunately didn't affect the rest of the hospital.
Sources said one switch for the main cooker was left on after workers knocked off on Saturday and it is believed that was where the fire started.
"You can see that of these six switches on the main cooker, this one was left on for what ever reason and this is where the fire started," the sources said.
According to sources, fire started at about 02:00hrs yesterday and the fire brigade only managed to put if off two hours later because they were ill-equipped and had no water.
The source said this was the second time that the kitchen had been gutted except that yesterday's inferno was too devastating.
"You can see that the entire kitchen unit and equipment is destroyed and we cannot offer any catering services to patients any more. We are just lucky that the hospital is empty owing to the on-going strike otherwise we were going to have a crisis," said the sources.
The source said the fire was a wake up call on the government to act swiftly and reward workers accordingly.
"Who knows maybe somebody did this deliberately; which I strongly suspect. Government should take care of workers if such misdeeds are to be avoided else where," the sources said.
And Dr Phiri said most of the patients had since been evacuated to the mine hospital and only a few were remaining.
Dr Phiri said he was waiting for a report on the cause of the fire.
Labels: CRISPIN MOYO, RDAZ, STRIKE
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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.
Labels: CRISPIN MOYO, RDAZ, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, UTH
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Doctors join strike
Written by Staff Reporters
RESIDENT doctors throughout the country have resolved to down tools indefinitely, joining the nurses and other health workers who have been on strike for over two weeks now. And most wards at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) have been closed while others are deserted following the strike by health workers.
Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) president Dr Crispin Moyo announced at a press briefing yesterday that the withdrawal of labour comes in the wake of numerous problems being experienced by doctors.
"It is with deep regret that we inform the public that resident doctors have withdrawn labour. Our action has been prompted by the current accommodation crisis being experienced by our members including intern doctors and postgraduate doctors, some of whom face eviction from their homes due to the failure on the part of government to settle its obligations to the landlords," he said "As per requirement this class of medical doctors occupies training positions and their accommodation is the responsibility of the government."
Dr Moyo said all this was against the backdrop of general poor conditions of service for all medical doctors.
He said while it was appreciated that there had been some favourable response from the government in a few areas, these had been falling far short of the mark because they had clearly failed to ameliorate the emergence of the current crisis including poor conditions of service and unacceptable working conditions for medical doctors.
"Notwithstanding the above, government continues to pay lip service to our plight. It must be realised that it is impossible to provide an excellent service when you have a demotivated workforce working in poorly maintained infrastructure with largely inadequate and non-operational equipment," he said.
Dr Moyo said doctors would not be disillusioned as stakeholders and had continued to hear more verbal promises than deed.
He said dialogue had clearly yielded very little for the doctors and called on the government to look into their plight and consider the best solutions which were clearly stipulated in their position paper.
Dr Moyo said the doctors were aware that the withdrawal of labour was not without extreme distress to the public and to the members.
"We shall therefore be returning to work as soon as this problem was resolved," Dr Moyo said.
The strike by health workers has continued at UTH and other clinics in Lusaka.
At UTH, the nurses were yesterday found outside near the casualty car park.
The theatres have been closed leaving only the ones for emergencies operational.
Wards E01 and E02 were the only ones operational while E11, E12, E21 and E22 were not.
Ward C03 was also closed with the admission wards. The female ward was closed and the female patients had been put together with the male patients.
At Chainama Clinic, all the wards were closed except the maternity ward, which had three nurses attending to emergencies such as road accidents and expectant mothers.
The victims were being treated and referred to UTH as the clinic was not admitting any patients.
At the Antenatal and under-five clinics, there was a poster that read "Emergencies go to maternity."
And resident doctors at Ndola Central Hospital (NCH) and Arthur Davison Children's Hospital (ADCH) have gone on strike.
Resident Doctors Association (RDA) Ndola branch president Dr Bright Nsokolo yesterday said the work stoppage had been caused by the unconducive working environment.
"Resident doctors at Ndola Central Hospital and Arthur Davison Children's Hospital regret to inform the public that with immediate effect we have gone on a work stoppage not because of our current bad conditions of service but because of the unconducive working environment where instead of saving lives we are actually killing," Dr Nsokolo said. "This is because we are sending away more patients than we are admitting to go and die at home. As doctors it makes our hearts bleed to send patients home who should otherwise be admitted all because there is no space to keep them and nurses to look after them."
He wondered where the patients who fill the wards at NCH and ADCH were going in view of the closure of some wards at the two public health institutions.
"As at today all the four medical wards at Ndola Central Hospital have been closed and the few medical patients are being admitted in casualty whether it's patient with TB [Tuberculosis] or severe malaria meaning a patient with malaria may end up contracting TB as well," Dr Nsokolo said. "The gynae [gynaecology] and maternity wards have also been closed and the few patients who are supposed to be in these wards have been bunched in labour ward. One of the three surgical wards has also been closed. Even at ADCH wards have been closed including the ICU [Intensive Care Unit]. The question one would ask is 'where are the many patients that occupy these wards under normal operations?' because these wards are never empty; the patients are dying at home."
Dr Nsokolo appealed to the public not to think that resident doctors had neglected the sick because the few critically ill patients were being taken care of by senior and expatriate doctors.
"It is important also to mention that doctors have been working for over three weeks to try and serve the public in the absence of nurses and other health workers who are striking but now the situation has become unbearable," he said. "We had earlier appealed to government to resolve the standoff with striking workers within at least two days before we could go on a work stoppage...the situation has also been compounded by the delay in the payment of salaries. To date a good number of doctors who are under Ministry of Health headquarters have not received their May salaries and this has been the case for the last four months and it's not acceptable."
Dr Nsokolo appealed to the government not to threaten the striking health workers but to listen to their demands.
"We hope the stand-off will be resolved as soon as possible so that we can go back for work and serve our people," Dr Nsokolo said. "Doctors are ready to go for work as soon as the striking workers return."
Nurses in Chingola told President Rupiah Banda that it was part of his job description to intervene in favour of striking workers' demands to reduce the suffering of patients.
In a petition addressed to President Banda on Wednesday which was presented to the Chingola District commissioner's office, the nurses stated that the excuse of the government not having funds could not be entertained because it had exhibited that there was enough money through the purchase of hearses, the planned procurement of mobile hospitals and his heavy and frequent trips whose impact they could not see.
The nurses also called on the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to probe the Chingola District Health Management Team for alleged abuse of donor grants.
"An example is where a top officials withdraws K20 million for personal use on monthly basis," the workers stated.
They also stated that utility vehicles meant for programmes like TB and HIV were used for activities that were not health related.
"In most cases such vehicles break down and costs are incurred by the government," the health workers stated. "An example is one vehicle broke down in Serenje which unfortunately was being used by a top management official."
And health workers in Chipata District in Eastern Province last Wednesday resolved to go on strike to press for improved conditions of service.
The health workers resolved to go on strike after a meeting held at Chipata General Hospital.
Eastern Province Health Workers Union of Zambia chairperson Otton Kaluba said the union supported all the health workers who had withdrawn labour because the government had failed to address their problem.
"Here at Chipata General Hospital the workers have already declared that they have withdrawn labour. In fact here at Chipata General Hospital they have been very patient, they have delayed. You have seen how long it has taken in Lusaka but here they have waited thinking maybe that impact from their friends will make government realise that really we are dealing with human beings but it seems government hasn't responded to that. So that's why we are saying no since government is not responding so let us join our friends," Kaluba said.
Kaluba appealed to other health workers in the district to join their friends, who were on strike because the government had not responded to their grievances.
Recently health workers in Petauke and Nyimba went on strike demanding better conditions of service.
The health workers' resolution to go on strike in Chipata district coincided with the teachers' decision to down tools earlier on Wednesday.
Over 500 teachers from Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia (BETUZ), Secondary Schools Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ) and Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT) resolved to go on strike at a meeting held at Chipata Day Secondary School until government addressed their outstanding salary related allowances.
Among the issues raised by the teachers include the conclusion of the protracted 2009 salary and other conditions of service of not less than 30 per cent negotiations, outstanding rural, remote, fixed band, settling-in allowance and other related allowances.
The unions also strongly advised administrators not to victimise their members.
Eastern Province UNIP chairperson Ahmed Randera urged the government to quickly address matters that had forced civil servants to go on strike so that the country was not paralysed.
Randera said it was sad that the government did not seem to be concerned about the happenings in the country.
And Namwala district health management board in Southern Province has closed down health centres and revised the 24 hours working period at the Out-Patient Department to less than 12 hours due to the on-going strike in the district.
Confirming the development on Wednesday, both the district director of health Dr Davy Kaile and Zambia Union of Nurses Organisation (ZUNO) acting branch chairperson Michael Chila said all junior nurses were on strike and only four senior nurses were working.
Dr Kaile said the strike in the district had crippled the health service delivery and was pathetic, forcing management to close down Maseele Urban Clinic and reduce the working hours from 24 to less than half a day because of the huge number of staff who were on strike demanding improved conditions of service and salary increments.
"Even my senior nurses who are currently working have indicated that if government delays to complete the negotiation by the end of this week they will also join the strike. So we urge our government to finalise the negotiations to save life in various health institutions throughout the country. The situation is no longer encouraging as you can see we are working on a skeleton workforce but what we should not forget is that these people are also stressed looking at the overload," Dr Kaile said.
Chila said ZUNO members would not resume work until government responded to their demands.
"As a union we shall support and protect our members from any form of abuse. So what we urge this government is to speed up and conclude the negotiation. It is very unfortunate that government has failed to realise that they have taken long to complete the negotiations and that it has a negative impact on the health delivery system. As you have heard in the presence of the DDH people here are not happy and those are senior staff who are saying by Friday [today] if government does not respond to the demands they will close down the hospital and they are not joking," Chila said.
Some senior clinicians at the hospital threatened to close down the institution today if the government did not respond to the demands by civil servants to completely paralyse the operations of government owned institutions.
Other government departments affected by the strike in Namwala are education, livestock and fisheries and social welfare where workers have completely downed tools due to the delay by the government to complete the negotiations.
National Energy Sector and Allied Workers Union (NESAWU) secretary general Yotam Mtayachalo appealed to the government to expedite negotiations for improved salaries and conditions of service for public workers in the country.
Mtayachalo said it was important that the government concludes the negotiations with public service workers because the strike by health workers had paralysed operations in most hospitals and clinics throughout the country.
"The prolonged strike action by civil servants has had grave consequences on poor ordinary Zambians who cannot access private healthcare because of high levels of poverty. I feel this is a very serious issue which needs urgent government and other stakeholders' intervention before many lives are lost," Mtayachalo said.
He said health and other public workers had legitimate grounds for their demands and it was important for negotiating teams to agree on the matter.
Mtayachalo said the government must also seriously address the issue of housing allowance for public workers because the high cost of accessing decent housing in Lusaka, Copperbelt Province, Livingstone and Solwezi among other places was beyond the reach of many workers.
He appealed to resident doctors in Ndola not to go on strike and continue to be patriotic because the situation would be aggravated and would lead to more loss of lives.
Public service workers have been on strike demanding an increase in their salaries and housing allowances. Nurses and health workers have downed tools for over two weeks now and teachers' strikes have led to a series of protests by pupils in most parts of the country.
But works and supply minister Mike Mulongoti on Wednesday said civil servants' strikes were politically influenced.
Mulongoti said the striking workers would be the ones to complain if constitutional office holders and senior government officials received an upward adjustment to their allowances and salaries.
"It goes without saying that if you get 15 per cent, you can't complain when senior government officials receive 15 per cent, because what is the basis for your complaint?" Mulongoti asked. "If they get 10 per cent, constitutional office holders get 10 per cent. Also to insinuate that the person who is entitled to gratuity should not receive, does not hold because a gratuity is an entitlement, they [civil servants] think they must get more money than the people supervising them."
He charged that civil servants were being influenced by politicians to strike so that they could destabilise government functions.
Mulongoti said civil servants should realise that a significant portion of the budget was sponsored by the donors and salary increments would not be justified because of the current global economic crisis.
"First of all, we would want to talk to them that they are punishing innocent people. They are being incited politically, which is unfortunate. There is an economic downturn, I don't think there is appreciation that what is happening elsewhere affects us," said Mulongoti. "Others are retrenching while others [civil servants] want salary increments. Do you think donors will be happy that there is a downturn and their people are losing jobs while here people are protesting?"
Mulongoti said those who were striking should realise that there were more capable and qualified people who were entitled to employment but were roaming the streets.
Civil servants from lands, energy, mines and agriculture ministries in Lusaka on Tuesday resolved to go on strike in protest against the 15 per cent salary increment awarded to them this year.
Labels: HEALTHCARE, RDAZ, UTH
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