By Henry Kyambalesa
A news article which has appeared in the Zambian Watchdog under the title “Each Mobile Hospital to Gobble K450m per Trip on Allowances,” if its content is authentic, is one of the many good reasons why President Rupiah Banda’s decision to buy the controversial mobile hospitals will be recorded in our beloved country’s history as having been a gigantic policy blunder.
In the article, it is revealed that EACH mobile hospital, which consists of 7 trucks, will require more than 36 personnel per visit of 2 weeks in any given rural area, including medical doctors, nurses, clinicians, laboratory staff, surgeons, pharmacists, and support staff.
And it is estimated that K450 million will be spent in allowances on EACH of the 36 or so mobile hospital personnel over a period of 2 weeks, an amount which does not include expenses on fuel, oil, spare parts, maintenance of the 7 trucks, and so forth, especially after the two-year initial contract with the Chinese supplier of the mobile hospitals. Also, the amount does not include the monthly salaries of the 36 or so mobile hospital personnel expected to serve on EACH of the 9 mobile hospitals.
All these expenditures are in addition to the US$53 million secured from the EX-IM Bank of China to purchase the 9 mobile hospitals from the China National Aero Technology Import and Export Corporation, and which will need to be repaid over a period of 40 years.
Besides, it is irresponsible, wasteful and unwise for President Banda to buy mobile hospitals which are unacceptable for the following reasons:
(a) They are likely to last only a few years, given the poor state of roads in rural areas;
(b) There are a lot of rural communities today where there are no motorable roads;
(c) It will be very difficult to control the potential abuse of the mobile facilities and their contents;
(d) There will be a high potential for cohabitation and/or marriage breakdowns among nurses, doctors and other personnel who will be assigned to work away from their families;
(e) For a healthcare system that is already understaffed, the assignment of well over 324 personnel to the 9 mobile hospitals will lead to greater levels of stress among health personnel at existing hospitals and other permanent healthcare facilities in the country; and
(f) The mobile hospital personnel will inevitably be subjected to deplorable conditions, including the lack of proper lodging, bathing and toilet facilities, and will be disposed to deadly diseases like malaria.
As any genuine development economist would advise, loans, if there is really a pressing need to obtain them, should ideally be used to support the production and/or exportation of tradable goods. However, the US$53 million loan would still have made sense if it was secured to cater for the following:
(a) Provision of free healthcare for all Zambians;
(b) Construction of more permanent healthcare facilities nationwide;
(c) Provision of adequate medicines, medical equipment and ambulances;
(d) Financing of research designed to find cures for HIV/AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases; and/or
(e) Hiring, retention and training of health personnel.
The mobile hospitals are, by and large, ideal for a country that is at war. For Zambia, they are a luxury we can clearly not afford.
No doubt, the procurement of such temporary facilities is going to be the most conspicuous case of misapplication of resources by a Republican president thus far. It is a clear case of misplaced priorities! Sooner or later, the President and/or members of his inner circle will be crossing national borders for medical treatment or check-ups after wasting the US$53 million on mobile hospitals!
And President Banda and the Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) want to continue to rule Zambia beyond 2011 after committing the country to such kinds of loans appropriated on worthless projects!
The US$53 million deal has all the characteristics of an attempt by President Banda to use the mobile hospitals as a campaign tool for the 2011 general elections, designed to woo voters in rural areas. He could win the Republican presidency, but he won’t be there to personally make a contribution to the re-payment of the loan!
And how does one explain the prominence of single-source procurement by the President during the short period he has been in office, if it is not to reap personal or political benefits from the deals involved? What is the use of having a procurement authority and technocrats in government ministries whose function is merely the acquisition of machinery, equipment and services that are prescribed by ministers or State House?
There is a need for Chinese government officials to guard against encouraging President Banda to borrow lavishly from their country’s state companies to finance projects which are conceived without consultation with Parliament and/or the Zambia Public Procurement Authority. They will do well not to participate in such furtive schemes if they are interested in cementing the existing cordial relations between their country and the people of Zambia.
Five more years of an MMD administration is, clearly, the last thing the majority of Zambians will ever wish for; they have suffered enough over the last 19 or so years of MMD reign.
We, therefore, need to put personal, ethnic, religious, and partisan interests aside and give the mandate to Comrade Michael Sata and the Patriotic Front (PF) to form government later this year and hope that they will work to break the socio-economic decay and backwardness which has haunted our beloved country over the last 19 or so years of the MMD administration.
In this regard, I wish to ask all those who teach our children, those who take care of the sick, those who extract and process copper and other minerals, those who provide transport services, those who create goods and services in the private sector, those who sell products in open markets and retail outlets, those who work in the civil service, those who serve orphaned and vulnerable children, and those who are currently unemployed to join and participate actively in this endeavor.
Finally, I wish to advise President Banda to re-assign the mobile hospitals to Zambia National Service (ZNS) camps in the 9 provinces after incorporating the functions of the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) that is currently vested in the Office of the Vice-President into the functions of the ZNS. They (the mobile hospitals) could be appropriately used during natural and man-made disasters, and during outbreaks of infectious and deadly diseases like cholera.
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This president is a cunt.
A good Article with good points which were supposed to be dealt with before ‘stealing’ $53 million from poor Zambians.
Where are the many expected comments???
Shiwanya
You expect comments on an article succinctly spelling out issues in a clear manner? Dream on. The quality of debates on this blog leaves a lot to be desired. May be its the tone at the top.
Shocked. Some of the elements you want to rule Zambia! You got to be kidding.
This is why he must go!!!!!!!! Please vote wisely
“….which will need to be repaid over a period of 40 years…” People it’s not along time ago that Zambia attained the debt cancellation that was accumulated by reckless past governments. The Organizations and other paties like the Zambia Episcopal Conference that cooperated with their Italian counterparts CEI (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana) to achieve the cancellation are now seen as enemies by SELFISH Power hungry politicians, every time they WISELY give advice concerning nation issues… RB will not live up to 40yr from now……. I’ve less space remaining. THINK WISELY FELLOW COUNTRY MEN AND WOMEN..
Its very interesting that LT can Publish this artical, what happened and where are those that Protect AlaaBee……………ati he has brought development to Zambia my foot
(d) There will be a high potential for cohabitation and/or marriage breakdowns among nurses, doctors and other personnel who will be assigned to work away from their families;
This point is irrelevant, because immorality lies in yourself, even as u work with our wives at UTH u have fake night shifts in homes for your husbands to believe u are at work but doing something else
This is a jumbo piece of evidence published exclusively for people like senior citizen, Ndate sicaba, MMD chief bootlicker, etc. to see for themselves because they suffer from information deficiency hence they lie day in and day out. Please read! and stop lying to yourselves.
when we saw that it is kyambalesa, we just did some simple numbers for the poor fellow who cannot do simple arithmetic. 450,000,000/14/36=900,000. we know that subsistence allowances for civil servants are no where near this amount. therefore the rest of the article can only be nonsense, no need to read.
Good observations. Zambians learn to analyse issues for you to make informed decisions as we go to the polls so that you are not blinded by the pro mobile hospital fanatics.
Mobile hospitals are just a waste of much needed resources. Government should have bought equipment for the existing hospitals and upgrade rural heath centres into hospitals.
@pf government- when we saw your pseudo name, we also knew that you have forgotten 9 mobile hospitals and have taken K450,000,000 for one hospital. 450,000,000/14/36/9 =99,000.
What it means that government pays less than K100,000 to doctors and nurses who go to far away places and is this amount enough for them to buy food, hygienes and bed and breakfast?
Let truth prevail and if a wrong decision is made, it be rectified as soon as possible than justifying and letting Zambians lose their hard earned money. Two wrongs do not make one right. We might not vote for PF but MMD shall take steps to rectify the wrong decision.
Well articulated article, and I say this without bias.
The country has gone to the dogs..
Lets remove RB even if it means replace with with a PIG. The chap has assaulted the country.
Am shocked that LT can publish such a well articulated and factual ducument. This shows the drop in confidence and support for our leader due to his own arrogance. I think RB could and should have really made a stable, development focussed and economic conscious leader had he been listening a little bit more. He has Killed MMD and has left us with more years of gambling on leaders and parties without knowing there calibre of policlies.
Naa li la li la li la , na li la umwana………..
Let the PF muppets rejoice at this article as if there is anything to be happy about. Any sane person like myself will never wake up at 04: 00, que up and cast a vote for Sata and be part to bringing lunacy into our government. Someone has done the simple maths for you lazy lot. Whether you like it or not RB is winning with a bigger margin this time.
#15 mwana wansenga, what kind of illiterate are you who cannot read simple plain language, in capital letters? Is the article written in Spanish or Chinese?
Quote “………. EACH mobile hospital, which consists of 7 trucks, will require more than 36 personnel per visit of 2 weeks in any given rural area, including ……..and support staff.
…….it is estimated that K450 million will be spent in allowances on EACH of the 36 or so mobile hospital personnel over a period of 2 weeks, an amount which does not include expenses on fuel, oil, spare parts, maintenance of the 7 trucks, …. . Also, the amount does not include the monthly salaries of the 36 or so mobile hospital personnel expected to serve on EACH of the 9 mobile hospitals.”
#15, your analysis is both ridiculous and contradictory. under a pf government we shall hang illiterate people like you for failing to take advantage of rb’s schools built at great cost to tax payers.
For your own information nurses get K300,000 per night for these mobile hospitals so its K4,200,000 each nurse for 14 days. Do your own research for doctors and the rest.
If only people in rural Zambia and indeed all eligible voters had an opportunity to read some of these articles, they would be more enlightened and have a clear conscious when going to the Ballot. Most if not all the people who read and analyse these articles have already made up their mind on who to vote for and in any case most will not even vote because they are not in Zambia. RB has never travelled by road to any rural part of Zambia, he has no idea how bad the roads are so he is not bothered about it, he got the loan,got his cut, the rest will sort itself out.Even staunch MMD supporters deep down their hearts know that this is a blunder but they wont say it.
The amount involved is collosal and of off course it is a mistake on the part of the reporter. It is common sense that no matter how how expensive that equipment may be , you cannot spend that kind of money on a trip. May be there is need to ask our transporters or even the ones that ran ambulances if they spend even 1% of the cost mentioned. Kyambalesa. please for once , do not bambooze the readers. Ijust borrowed that word.
That is how they “steal” or get “free” gov money. We had a director who raked in a million Kwacha for Siavonga seminars but for members of staff needing some change for their trips “there was no money!”
K450m on an at least two week may not even be enough for the allowances. My take is that those who will be going will be the senior most health workers, Consultants and Surgeons, Principal Nursing Officers, and these cadres get subsistence at a rate in higher divisions going into millions per day. K300,000/night someone mentioned above is for the Junior staff and for ordinary tasks. Ambulance duties gobble at least K1,000,000 per night.
For two weeks, a consultant can pocket a minimum of K28,000,000. Most District Health Offices in the country get about K120,000,000 as grant per month.
And there will be fighting for a cut on these trips by the staff, and those resident at static hospitals/clinics will be frustrated, compromising service delivery further.. COMPLICATIONS
Mobile Hospital purchasing is the ultimate absurd decision one can make for a poor country like Zambia, for whatever reasons, that wiil continue to drain the meagre resources which could have gone a long way in improving our pathetic conditions of service in the health sector.
Could have gone a long in equipping the Hospitals by replacing obsolete equipment.
US$53m could have been invested in a production sector, create jobs, and generate export goods, that money could have paid for itself.
Do these Politicians have brains we all have in the right places, or their brains are located in the perineal area? SHAME on MMD……………
Are we safe? Lusaka Times you are scaring us, it really sounds like a costly AIDS promotion agenda.
If 8.7 million people (more especially in rural areas) will receive quality healthcare, it is a drop in the ocean.
This is total madness. Was the bally being advised. And where are the MMD Bootlickers , we need their comments here
if RB want to use the word insane let him use it on the purchase of mobile hospitals and not Mpombo!!
Kudos to LT. You are really trying to balance. The figures may not be exactly correct, but policy wise – ROI on these mobile hospitals will be a disaster. Well done LT. You have my support. Mr Kyambalesa almsot diverged into political nuances, but most of the time restircted himelf to a fair analysis. Good article. What would be nice would be for a doctor to comment especially those doctors in rural areas. One should also comment on the fear of immorality in these hospitals as doctors camp in them for two weeks or so on end in the bush. How do they entertain themselves, they carry some lagers??/
Whilst the writer makes his side of the argument eloquently in the end one can’t help but discern bias and the conclusions emotive. There are merits and practical reasons why Govt has deployed these hospitals. For one most Zambians are unable to travel to hospitals on account of cost. The writer makes no mention of the business case, which he would be best advised to seek from Govt for his own analysis and he may well find persuasive. That is not to say he has to agree. And incidentally this service does not have to exist mutually exclusively of others. The only obvious concern for me is the fact that the Govt had to borrow the money.
# 30 Mr. Capitalist – 3 E’s steering economic growth. I thought you were smart. As a poor country, we need to use our limited resources wisely. Even a KAPONYA would have made a better decision than buying those mobile clinics. We do not have proper roads hence the maintenance cost will be very high besides all those allowances. Just from monthly allowances, they can build decent satellite clinics near the villages then doctors from Provincial hospitals would visit to attend to some cases.
Health care is very costly any where in the world. RB is giving the forgotten Zambians in rural areas a chance of their life time. No president before him did this. Go to America, health is expensive, come to UK, you will realise that its not actually free we pay for it indirectly. Doctors arent cheap. So instead of analyzing the cost of treating human beings, why not analyze the costs of running mines and the wages of miners, why not analyze things that Zambians are losing out on other than the health of the poor. Dont you know that he who helps the poor lends to the Lord. Wisdom is the principle thing. RB is wise.
@ #35 Dinx
Until I see a cost-benefit analysis of satellite clinics vs Mobile hospitals, i stick by my statement. Those mobile hospitals were designed to withstand the type of roads that exist in Zambia. It is no sunk cost at all.
Good analysis. My position is that all govt workers need the money for their upkeep and other expenses. The salaries they get is far from real. Consider the salaries of workers in the NGO or parastals doing the same job. No genuine person would work for these hospitals. Whats K300,000 per night compared to a number of lives that will be served. There is no real solution for these social challenges this is just one such attempt. Not everyone will be attended to but the few that could not afford to travel to Lusaka will have their problems attended to. Please dont vandalise these hospitals to show case for your negative reproach. I love RB. Keep moving we need you for another term..
Lucky for thoze who will be involved in the mobile health exercize, and I do hope they put the hefty allowancez to good use. Make sure you pay children’z school/tution feez, buy/develop houzing plots, clear Zesco/water billz, remember mom/dad athe village and settle thoze loanz from the numerous financial institutionz around, not forgeting my castle and soup ya Mbuzi at the pup. After all this Zambia iz for all of US.
The mobile hospital issue, is a very disappointing policy matter. I will not say much because it really looks terrible.
Gud analysis, but left one thing, theft of fuel ie mazabuka, also witchcraft among health personel Ya, true, after all Gabriel Namulambe argued in the NCC that having vice presidential running mate who wud asume office in the event of the incumbent’s demise would encourage witchcraft. Paranoid chaps in grz, simply goes to show how public policy in zed is a joke. By the way anyone with an update on the efficacy of manda mandas, are pipo being accorded decent departures????
# 37 Mr. Capitalist – 3 E’s steering economic growth. What type of cost benefit analysis do you need? How much are you going to spend on maintenance on those vehicles if the life span of a car in Lusaka is around two years due to bad roads? Have you ever driven in remote parts of Zambia? This is not about RB being MMD but making a WRONG and COSTLY decision. As a learned person, you must understand that this is not a good solution to the problem.
Rupia Banda is stubborn and does not want to be advised. I don’t how he was brought up when he was a child. A person who doesn’t want to be told the right thing. I wonder how his advisors manage him. Uli ankazi kapati utayandi kulayigwa. What a president!
waste of money..day light robbery from the zambian. this mmd govt. is focusing on quantity rather than quality..why not upgrade the current level 1 hospitals to general hospital, equip them with morden equipments..unlike people to be travelling to UTH for complicated cases that cost a lot to zambians..each province should have a 3rd level hospital like UTH to avoide expenses in terms of referals.
EVERYTHING WELL ELABORATED FOR A PERSON WHO HAS EARS.MANIPULATIVE MMD.VOTE WISELY.ITS TIME TO BARRY THIS STINKING RUBBISH MMD.VIVA PF.