Government has warned members of the public against beating nurses and health workers in health centers.
Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Peter Mwaba said government will not condone any of such actions from members of public.
Dr Mwaba called called upon members of the public to support health workers around the country.
He stated that the public are however welcome to criticize the health workers where there are shortcomings adding that these will be cardinal in the country’s quest to attain the Millennium Development Goals.
Dr Mwaba said this at the combined graduation ceremony of 140 nurses from Solwezi, Mukinge, and Kaleni Nursing Schools in Solwezi yesterday.
He said government has taken measures to address some of the public complaints such as shortage of health personnel and drugs in health centers.
The Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary has meanwhile called for change of attitude among health personnel in the country.
He said the public has been looking at the professionals with negative perception but has since challenged them to start serving the public with honour to remove this perception.
Dr Mwaba reminded the health workers that their professional is a unique profession which calls for humility and dedication.
And North Western Province Medical Officer George Liabwa has commended government for improving infrastructure and teaching tools at the various nursing schools. Dr Liabwa however asked government to increase recruitments of health personnel in the province to mitigate the shortage which stands at about 50 percent
And a graduating nurse, Joy Yowela has commended government for its policies which she says are motivating to health personnel.
ZANIS/
yeah, but also tell the nurses to be respectful and caring…..Â
At least ba Mwaba you’ve talked a lot of sense but tell your fellow vima doctors that nurses are not failures like Dr Silumesi he’s a wanker of a doctor!There very bad doctors just as nurses.It’s all about attitudes basi.
What nurse and medical personal do at times leaves a lot to desire, this has brought about the situation of the public not seeing this service as being noble. I have had a situation which I could not beleive a fellow health worker could respond in a way this male nurse did. one has to just imagine for general public what they go through.
Recently before the demise of my late uncle, I and my cousin were literally tortured by the nurses for suggesting fee paying admission for our uncle at Ndola central hospital. First the nurses at admission ward hide our uncles file, when we tried to push them so that the doctor can see him before he is taken to the ward, we were rudely told off that they will look for the file in their own time and that after all our insistence to take uncle to a fee paying ward was meaningless as it was the same doctors who will treat him. We had to explain calmly that we understood that, but uncle being elderly will require care around the clock and that would be better provided in a fee paying ward with help of family members. RETRAIN NURSES IN BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE SO THAT THEY STOP BEING BEATEN!
The public have good reason to be annoyed when well qualified people like you Dr Mwaba spend years and years training only to be given a desk job. Did you train to see patients or sign cheques?
We need to change the system so that MOH administrative jobs are rotational not wamuyayaya. This will allow doctors to practice what they REALLY trained for and prevent polarisation of power by individual cliques. Ndeke House is full of medical doctors stuck at the level of senior house officer who may not take too kindly to the progress of other doctors. Please let administrators administrate and doctors treat patients. If doctors do administrative work, it should be part time until we have sufficiently addressed the critical man and woman power shortages affecting both doctors and nurses.
#4 That is the “disease” that is seen worldwide, Medics going into administration becoz that’s where the money is!! IT ISN’T a bad thing, in that Medics DO KNOW 1st HAND WHAT IS REQUIRED to deliver an efficient CLINICAL SERVICE becoz they can relate, they may indeed need up-skilling in delivering an efficient administration – I think all professions do this. Having pure admin without Clinical insight, LEADS TO A SYSTEM WHERE THE ORG is run by “Book-keepers” who simply want to keep their books “clean” at the expense of everything – ITS LIVES WE DEAL WITH, not cash registers!!
Boss, I did suggest doctors should work PART TIME in administration which addresses your concern about clinical input into the administrative process.
The current culture in Zambia is that once once a clinician gets sucked into administrative work, they never come back to the clinical side. I am advocating a win / win rotational system that allows clinicians to maintain their clinical skills and allows us to address the man / woman power shortage which is part of the reason patients end up clobbering over-stretched under-paid medical and nursing staff on duty.
So what exactly is your beef?
It takes two to tango! The general public should understand the difficult circumstances nurses and other health personnel work in (staff shortage resulting in long hours of work, lack of basic equipment, poor/no housing, etc etc), and health workers should understand they are dealing with human health/life, which can very emotional! There should be understanding and tolerance from both sides!!