Thursday, March 28, 2024

Government antagonizes Zambian Medical doctors

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Dear Editor,

I would be grateful if you provided me the opportunity to be heard on your forum. As you may perceive from the (PDF) document accompanying this message, I do not speak for myself, but for a group – a group of medical doctors who have sacrificed time away from family for the sake of furthering their careers and gaining skills to better the quality of service delivered to all Zambians; a group whose families back in Zambia have been taken to the edge of desperation by the thoughtless action of the (at the pertinent time) Permanent Secretary at Public Service Management Division (PSMD).

The community of Zambian medical doctors has collectively fought long and sometimes bitter battles to improve conditions of service purely in the interest of being better able to deliver their very best to the community.

The casualties of these battles are not the Zambian doctors scattered in Botswana, Namibia and in every part of the world, but the Zambian tax payer who paid for the at least 7 long years of training that other countries receive on a silver plate every time a Zambian trained doctor is employed away from Zambia. [pullquote]The simplified version of this is that we are so petty and too busy engaged in squabbles about how large the ego of a permanent secretary should be that we forget that the currency we are dealing with is human life not US dollars or Kwachas.[/pullquote]

One of the major hurdles we encountered along the way was (and still is) the government ceiling of no other civil servant being able to exceed the salary scale of (not so) permanent secretaries.

The medical doctors on-call allowance initially worked on number of hours clocked attending to patients whilst on call.

The pattern of work done from on-call records over many years demonstrated the need to have a uniform or flat rate according to the level of proficiency.

The cardinal point is that on-call allowance primarily serves to improve doctors conditions of service above the clearly ridiculous and outdated policy that makes permanent secretary conditions of service the salary scale limit.

The doctors in management positions at Ministry of Health Ndeke House or in management positions all over the country may not (and in many cases do not) attend to calls (as in actually attending to patients at odd hours), but are also recipients of this call allowance based on this very same principle. It is for this very reason that the removal of on-call allowance for doctors on study leave as directed in the accompanying letter is (without mincing words) criminal.

This directive will not make Zambian doctors studying abroad want to come back home, but has the boomerang effect of raising resentment for an action that ultimately penalises innocent families back home by denying them much needed income and makes us more determined to get our suffering families out of Zambia.

In summary, what is called medical doctors on-call allowance is effectively part of a medical doctors’ salary and it is malicious, illegal and fundamentally immoral to deny us this without prior warning and without negotiations with our representatives.

The PS PSMD at the time may not have been privy to this aspect or fundamental nature of so called on-call allowance and I am sure that if this was explained to him or her, the (mis)directive would never have been issued.

The other possibility is that they were fully aware of the nature of medical doctors on-call allowance and had either a fit of malice (knowing they wouldn’t be re-appointed) or a directive from an election campaign team to beef up the brown envelopes.

I am therefore appealing to you Mr Peter Lesa Kasanda, PS at PSMD to review this (mis)directive and institute the necessary investigations that reversed and negated decades of hard fought conditions of service battle ground in less time than it takes to say “bwafya”. If, Mr Kasanda, you determine that government is still within its rights to deny us part of our salary, I hope that this will be effected in all future contracts of medical doctors going on study leave so that they know well in advance what will take place and thus prepare themselves mentally and financially (and are able to make an informed decision about whether to go on study leave or not) instead of it coming as a sudden shock to their dependants and families.

Many Zambians have false pictures and illusions about what life on a student’s allowance abroad amounts too. It is even harder when that barely enough student allowance has to be stretched to care for family back home and the neighbours in your country of study are not neighbourly enough to go and ask for some salt or sugar.

I was privileged to be an intern at Ndola Central Hospital when our now national President Mr. Michael Sata came and addressed us as we staged a go-slow (which I am not so proud of). We (however) had our then miserable salary of a junior doctor raised from fifty thousand kwacha (K50,000) to two hundred and fifty thousand kwacha (K250,000). I therefore have every confidence that this error will be sorted out with the same speed it was effected.

It is my sincere hope that (in the medium rather than the long term) the mischievous policy that prevents highly skilled Zambian trained labour worth billions of US dollars on the global labour market (and whose value in terms of Zambian lives lost no one appears to care about) from rising above the monetary and material precincts of a glorified party cadre (permanent secretary) is scrapped away with the contempt it rightly deserves.

The simplified version of this is that we are so petty and too busy engaged in squabbles about how large the ego of a permanent secretary should be that we forget that the currency we are dealing with is human life not US dollars or Kwachas. One other alternative would be to eventually detach medical doctors from the civil service with conditions peculiar to their profession and have this detachment enshrined somewhere in the constitution – the constitution protects human life and rights thereof and medical doctors spend their entire career protecting this life. It therefore seems fairly logical that we of all professions should have more than a mere foot in the constitutional door (as always some smarty pants will read this as my ego).

I must acknowledge the efforts of my colleagues in medical leadership who over the years have committed many hours outside their normal hours to negotiate our collective conditions of service. I have no doubts also that as the First Lady, Dr. Kaseba, is numbered amongst us, the dim light at the end of the tunnel that our most needy patients see will steadily grow brighter.

Yours in national service,
Seriously pissed off Medical doctor on study leave.

78 COMMENTS

  1. I understand what the learned Dr is saying but as a rule we should call things what they in order that we not fall in this trap. It seems ridiculous (probably illegal) to me that an “on-call” allowance would be paid to doctors that are not on call and to even those on study leave!!. Perhaps this allowance should be called something like “inducement allowance” or “retention allowance” while at the same time the doctors should seek some special dispensation that allows the Permanent Secretary cap to be removed.

  2. The P.S is right, no payment of on call allowances to Doctors studying abroad because they are not on call to serve a patient, the basic pay and other emoluments continue. To say the least, the ministry is very kind to even pay the basic salary to u.

    • This story makes sad reading. I do not sense on why the so called speaking on behalf many is complaining about. As a Zambia and Tax payer, i would even advocate that all allowances paid to this category of on call Doctors be recovered by government. This is blantant theft and abuse of public resources to be paid on call allownces when you are on leave of any kind. Please stop provoking us and whoz life do u save u current medical officers if i may ask.
      Pliz shut up before we react

  3. Why do you want to be paid on call when you are on leave. On call is only meant for those who are off working hours and want to do extra time in their off duty to earn extra money. Therefore why are you asking to be paid for working extra time when you are on study leave??? I expect better coming from a doctors mouth. You will only get paid for the work you have done, period! Stop being selfish and foolish.

  4. I dont understand this Doctor really! Does he mean he should be paid ON CALL allowance while abroad? ON CALL allowance is for DR that are on call! If you want money, tell GRZ to introduce ABRAOD allowance. or is me that read wrong? Thats why tatupolela, a DR that doesnt understand ON CALL allowance. The word even says it all no need of that circular!

  5. #1 peter cool spot on ma bro. lets just improve working conditions for these hard working doctors even if it means surpassing the ps’ salaries. after all doctors save lives that these ps’ trample on with their thieving trends. who is more important here, a doctor or a ps? pf govt. please, these are the things you should look into and change.

  6. Is this Doctor normal?? even at our company we pay overtime or stand allowance to workers who work over weekends or those that i put on standby, walibelela ifya free mambala

  7. Doc,
    I find receiving on-call allowances when you nowhere closer to the center of service a very immoral thing. You have to detail more on this. Even if you are on study leave, there is no justification to collect on-call allowances. If anything, very few Zambian professionals return home after Graduating which i pray changes because Zambia is suffering some serious brain-drain. Join the thread so that we can help each other as brothers and sister on why you should let that one call.

  8. Stop being stingy and selfish. I know you get a lot of money and thats just for a junior doctor. Lets be proud Zambians and save the lives of Zambians, not this STUPID PRIDE that you are now doctors and people have to crawl for you!!

  9. On call allowance is just a way of improving doctors conditions of service.removing on call allowance leaves doctors with peanuts.After studying for so long and saving lives I think doctors deserve better.But if Zambians continue screwing up doctors they will simply leave and who loses in the end? tax payers.who gains?..other countries who didn’t pay a cent towards the doctors education

    • Ba Mulenga, we are talking about on-call here. Someone must be on-call, that’s ready to be called to go and perform work at their health facility, and not away in UK doing studies. We all know that people need to have more money in their pocket but it has to be legally earned. What the learned doctor must be talking about is improving their conditions of service generally and not pick on a particulat allowance and twist it!

  10. I also do not understand this Dr. Actually it was even a scandal to pay them in the first place.
    Am actually worried when he comes back. This is the chap who will even be demanding cash from rich patients saying that he is needed to catch up on his beloved lost on call allowances

  11. Dear Doctor,

    Do you think its fair that while you are studying, the Doctors that are actually slaving through the night to attend to patients should receive the same call allowance as you who has not worked for it? Lets look at improving conditions of service not through such illegal mechanisms.

  12. Its very simple. You are not allowed to make false allowance claims just because you are a doctor!

    A lecturer at university once told us that the passing mark was about 40%, even for doctors…so the fellow you entrust with your life may not have known 60% of what he was supposed to know when he qualified!…the doctor who wrote this piece just reminded of that!

  13. This is a silly article by a disgrantled doctor and I doubt if he is speaking on behalf of all doctors abroad.Yes, Doctors must be paid very very well, I totally support this call, but no one must be paid on-call allowance when they are not on call period. Can this doctor pay her maid overtime allowance when the maid has not worked overtime? I hope this doctor’s level of thinking does not reflect his professional compentences, otherwise I am concerned.

  14. This doctor is misinformed, greedy and lacks partriotism. However, I do agree that doctors salaries are capped by those of permanent secretaries

  15. Doctors including Sata’s wife (Dr Kaseba) have been plundering national resources by being paid on call allowances when they are not on call. This must come to an end. Why should a doctor who is on study leave get on call allowance? They must pay back the money if those who are in offices or study leave have been receiving on call allowance. The article above exposes how fraudulent the system and manipulative the doctors have been.

  16. The PS is right and there are no 2 ways about it. Maybe its time our government realised that healthcare consists of a team not only Doctors. This young MO (house man) is a threat to the nation and to our patients at large. Let on-call allowance be paid to a deserving Dr who is currently providing service at the station of duty …not to people abroad on study leave and ndeke house..merry x’mass to all fellow zambians

  17. :(( This articles is useless. You only get what you work for. Why get paid an on call allowance when u are not on call. Lets be fair. Think twice bwana Dr. Would you yourself bwana Doc pay your assistant at your private clinic on call allowance when u have sent him to India to study? Big NO I GUESS. So its nosense to claim what does not belong to you.

    More money in the pocket if u work for it.

  18. The general public will not understand this issue unless all details are availed which the doctor studying abroad attempted to do. The term on-call allowance is a misnormer. It was the only feasible way the government would improve salaries for docs at the time. What is called on call applies to virtually all doctors whether they do calls or not. I suggest the government changes this wrong application of on call allowance. If it is removed for any doc only the nations will have themselves to blame coz even the little they ar getting is taken away. Peolple shud stop wondering why zambian docs are either abroad, in management or in ngos. The docs salary is a mockery in zed. Wrong way to go mr ps.

  19. I’m a Zambian medical doctor specializing abroad. I’m NOT employed by GRZ. The bottom line is that my colleagues at home get paid peanuts and that’s just wrong. On call allowance was created as an acknowledgement of this fact. All professionals regardless of their chosen career path need adequate remuneration. Unfortunately professionals are NOT valued in Zambia

  20. btw, all doctors employed by the ministry of health get on call allowance, irrespective of whether or not they do calls, including those working purely in admin

  21. FROM MY UNDERSTANDING THE PS REALLY DID NOT HAVE THE BACKGROUND OF THE SO-CALLED ON CALL ALLOWANCE AND THE DISGRANTLED DOCTOR SHOULD NOT BLAME HIM OR INSULT HIM AS FROM THE PS’S SHOES…THE RIGHT THING WAS DONE!
    AS A TAX PAYER AND AS A PROFESSIONAL IN A SEPARATE FIELD BUT ALSO ON STUDY LEAVE I HAVE TO AGREE THAT IT IS ILLEGAL TO GET AN ALLOWANCE FOR WORK HOURS WHICH YOU ARE NOT DOING!.
    THEN AGAIN IT IS WRONG TO GO ON STUDY LEAVE WITH AN AGREEMENT OF CERTAIN CONDITIONS AND TERMS THEN HAVE THEM CHANGED ALL OF A SUDDEN LEAVING YOUR FAMILY TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!
    WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE AND NOT ONLY FOR DOCTORS IS TO GET RID OF THE SALARY CEILING…OUR CONSTITUTION IS REALLY ABUSED BEACAUSE EVEN FOR VEEP AND MINISTERS…SALARIES ARE LOW BUT ALLOWANCES ARE EXTREMELY HUGE

  22. FURTHERMORE, THE ON CALL ALLOWANCE SHOULD BE REVISITED AND ALL THOSE IN MANAGEMENT SHOULDNT RECEIVE IF THEYR NOT ‘ÓN CALL”’! THIS ARRANGEMENT IS DAYLIGHT ROBBERY….ARE THE ALLOWANCES EVEN TAXABLE????
    GUY SCOTT SALARY IS AROUND k64m A YEAR BUT HIS ALLOWANCES ARE WELL ABOVE k350m A YEAR … SURELY ISN’T THAT THEFT??
    THIS IS WHY WE ALWAYS HAVE PROBLEMS OF CORRUPTION INCLUDING ALL THE UNRETIRED IMPREST CITED EVERY YEAR BY AUDITOR GENERAL

  23. :((Yavutatako to understand cry from this Dr.Its time to be paid for what we have worked for. Its like you go to your employer and ask them to pay you back all the moneys you have been paying for your sku even as far as fees you paid in grade 1 – 12.Thanks bwana PS FOR THAT DIRECTIVE.ABOLISH RANKS such as DMOs District Medical Officers thez guyz are suppose to be seeing patients not sign cheques as it is today .Some of the have even forgotten to do a simple operation. But busy attending and soliciting for workshops at the expense of tax payers money

  24. Dr. Just demand for better conditions, and get to know the definitions of your allowances. Instead, demand that those stodying should receive a study allowance or montly stipend which is justified than receiving On Call Allowance when not on-call.

  25. How does the one who is studying out there and is not working for the citizens and is not called to patients get on-call allowance nai mwe ba Doc?

  26. Comrades, you are missing the point here:
    1. The contract signed between these Doctors and MoH clearly outlines that ‘on call’ allowance will be credited even to Doctors on study leave.
    2. The P.S decided to remove ‘on call’ allowance without the knowlegde of the other party which is tantamount to ‘breach of contract’.
    3. The Doctors in managerial positions keep receiving this allowance despite being “off call”
    4. Finally, those of you making desparaging remarks, careful with what you say because you have absolutely no idea what medical school is like and medical practice itself. While you are in the comfort of your homes making love to your wives, Doctors endure sleepless nights trying to save lives and yet receive close to nothing at the end of the month.

    • Julius we are also professionals.takwaba isukulu iya anguka.You are not the only educated.Stop exposing your ignorance.Style iyo its for your stupid previous gvt.

    • Julius Ceaser, This is what happens when you present less details. Reading through the article, i could clearly see where mistakes are and the bloggers have capitalised on that. Your explanation makes alot of sense contractually but its too late now for the author/messenger has been shot in the head. He should have clearly explained things like you have done.

  27. This Doctor is a Joker. He wants free money just because he is a medical personel and how did he manage to graduate? Maybe he is a traditional Doctor and not one from the University……. If thats how you have been stealing our money, you are doomed.

  28. Its sad that the learned doctor can choose to sink so low to the point of representing the facts about on-call allowance. First, the on-call allowance as the name denotes is paid to those Drs. who are eligible and normally are on call. Secondly, the application for study leave is categorical on the entitlements one is entitled to such as meal allowances, research & project allowance, book allowance, warm clothing, etc and on-call allowance is non of them. Thirdly, its far from the truth that the on-call is a component of the salary, its not as it is paid separately and does not appear on a payslip. Finally, Doc I would urge you to be humanistic in your approach and conduct in your noble calling of caring for after the patients. Please do not hold our nation and our patients at ransom.

  29. :)>-Thats the way it is if you get used to corrupt practices. This Dr is 100% corrupt just how can you do that. anyway *24* is right District medical directors are useless. please PS extend your your bold and wise decision to abolish this rank which administrators can do. These guys milk alot of tax payers money for them to be trained and the need to doing there work. Signing Cheques is an accountant’s duty. You will further discover that this DMO who doesn’t see patient gets a huge call allowance.when in fact they dont see any patients instead nurses and COs do the job.

  30. This doctor must be a bemba! ur mad ur missing out on the plundering of national resources??? u want to be paid for work u have not done?? do u know that that money u r demanding for is from tax payers who worked extra hard? 

  31. #27 iwe ceasar, stop insulting people on this blog…what is zambian medicine when it is only trial and error? For what benefit is it to study 6 years just to get a fake title MO which is the old system consisting of 2 bachelor degrees with very little value and respect outside the country..There people on this blog with better qualification than MO and stop living in the past believing zambian medicine is the only best thing on earth..there are better med.skuls with 6 yrs study resulting in MD and next 2-3 years PhD. The truth  here is that these guys were simply stealing from gvernment and they shud be made to pay back unless that name on/call allowance is changed with immediate effect.

  32. # 34 ba Julius Ceaser muli chikopo fye. One wonders how you became a doctor with that kind of reasoning. If I were in Zambia I would not risk my patient to be cared for by a disgruntled doctor like you. Tu stereo-type utwabupuka. Whats is so special about being a doctor and the ka medical school you are bragging about? I am not blowing my own trumpent, but my job of maintaining and repairing aircrafts here in UK as far more superior to yours. But you want to show everybody that being a doc is the greatest achievment. You very well know that from UNZA you guys who went into medicine were in category C after us in BEng. Who deserves to boast here? If you kill patients due to your insantient appetite for money mukayapya kuli Lesa. If you are here in the UK studying you can do some paidwork

  33. Theft is what you have been doing! Why should someone whose out there studying get this allowance? Lets save money and only pay those who deserve. The doctor who sent this letter thinking he would get sympathy from the bloggers here is a fool who thinks with his stethoscope!

  34. Gagante, You are spot on dear. This doctor has stirred the hornet nest by being unrully, insolent and disrespectful in airing of his grievance. The nation may wish to know now that this allowance is abused and its tax-free. Al those doctors walking the corridors including the PS do get the on-call allowance. The decision in the circular is not the Ps’ he merely conveyed the decision of the cabinet. Dear doctors lets do away with the stereotype and show-caes our mantle by providing an excellent service to the patient. CASE CLOSED COURT RISE.. NEXT TOPICAL CASE?

  35. It is always the fat Cats who make a decent living off the sweat of those who are actually on the ground working. So, as along as someone becomes PS, even if they are just a cadre with a certificate in First Aid which is not even worth the paper it is printed on, they start getting better perks than those who are busy working round the clock? What a joke!

  36. The problem in this country is too much don’t kubeba. How can a person be paid for what they haven’t done. Why pay people at MoH Hq, PHO are being paid when they do not do the on call. this should not be accepted where MOs are being paid when they are not working. Dr Mwaba please look into this. PF stop this don’t kubeba sydrome.

  37. This Dr is off line. The P.S is very right. Why should you be paid a on-call allowance when you are out there studying? No guys be faire bane.

  38. Sorry, but the government is correct here. An ‘on-call’ allowance is paid in lieu of the time spent on-call. A doctor on study leave gets an allowance abroad as well as a basic salary at home. Don’t be greedy. Dr Roland Msiska who is a doctor as well is perfectly in order here. Go on Dr Msiska and clean up government! Well done. Next, he should stop paying doctors who have left government of Zambia service and are working abroad but still being paid salaries back home. We know.

  39. Dr,you don’t care about the community nor your patient you are just waiting for an opportunity to flee abroad ,with or without call allowances.You are just trying to cover self interest for a smoke screen of common good . We understand were your loyalties lie when you threaten people with brain drain.We are fully aware as to your intention.

  40. #39 & # 40, comrades, you are stil missing the basic point. These Doctors did not solicite for the allowances, thats how things have been. I have pointed out two very important points: ‘tantamount to breach of contract’ and ‘Doctors in administration getting this allowance’.
    Being a Doctor is not for everyone, it a calling and we dont do it for money. Surely, getting wealth is the last thing on my mind.

  41. And guys, if one individual ( the doctor in question) has erred, lets not put the blame on the whole profession. I, for one, know that no profession is ‘more equal’ than the other… Shalom comrades.

  42. This is the problem of having people with a compression capacity that is thinly veiled, being able only to comprehend simple word arrangement – reason legal speak is difficult to understand!
    IT HAS BEEN EXPLAINED THAT THIS ALLOWANCE HAS/HAD BECOME INCORPORATED INTO THE MAIN SALARY IN THE CONTRACT. THUS IT HAD BECOME A FIXED RATE, WHICH ALL DOCTORS RECEIVE, i.e. including all those working in offices in the ministry!
    JUST AS THE BANKING INSTITUTIONS INCORPORATED BONUSES INTO MAIN SALARIES LEADING TO THE GREED THAT BROUGHT THE WORLD TO IT’S KNEES IN THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS! So before people “bark”, they should try to get someone to interpret what is being imparted in the article!!!

  43. The simple reason Zambian doctors do not progress is because of too much “pull him down” (phD) syndrome. Firstly it is perfectly normal to expect non-medical people not to support you (the majority of submissions here), and secondly you will not even get a sympathetic ear from fellow medical doctors in positions of admin and decision making. The author clearly recognises that Dr. Mwaba was merely following a directive, but what is lacking is whether any dialogue actually occured between the parties involved around the time that this decision was taken.

    The only time Zambian doctors progress is when they get out of the system and find employment in non-Zambian environments. Sad but true. The future remains bleak for skilled labour in Zambia. You stand a better chance if you are Chinese

  44. Most of you are just in hurry to comment without understanding the gist of the grievance. ‘On call allowance’ is a term that was used as a way of boasting the doctors pay. It applies whether one is on call or not. It was a round-about way of raising doctors pay without subjecting it to scrutiny from other sectors of the civil service, or to the same tax regime. Doctors abroad may also still have a family back home who survive on this pay like every other doctor’s family. Are some of you missing the point maliciously or its just the lack of the capacity to assess and understand matters?

    • Its the lack of capacity to understand of course compounded by the Doctor’s long winded style of putting up his argument.

  45. This is the problem when ministry officials (PS) are recruited on party lines. They have no idea or understanding what they are writing down and its implication. Firstly, giving allowances across the board to even cleaners in the MoH and call it ‘On Call Allowance’ is fundermentally wrong. In my layman view on call means you attend to a shift when you should have been home. But does a cleaner or typist (if they still exists) deserve this allowance? Who is calling them to attend to what at the office on Saturday afternoon and pay them on call allowance?This is why bloggers have fried your ass.

  46. This is a badly written letter, the doctor should have been more sophisticated/professional and cut out the personal references. You dont have to be patronising to get your argument heard. However unlike many comments above i do sympathise with the doctors central argument, he simply lost it in his many words, it reamins valid that doctors need attracive conditions of service.

  47. Yaba bwafya sana pa Zed. Tch tch eish. So the Govt must do something to look into this issue. From the look of things the only option is to rename this allowance like ‘Inducement/Retention allowance.’ or Call it Scarce skill allowance something like that.

  48. Bwana author,
    The comments on this blog attest to the fact that you are neither valued nor appreciated by your employers or the people you serve. Probably the only people who are an exception are the people in rural areas whose lives you’ve saved by doing emergency c/sections, laparotomies etc. Some people even think your qualifications are useless. That is the painful truth. If you want value in terms of job satisfaction and money, leave Zambia and go elsewhere

  49. Mu Civil Service namo! Dont cap doctors’ salaries to PS’s. If anything Doctors should be employed at PS salary scale. Why not? since they have spent seven years getting the qualification? Lets have doctors starting private Hospitals. Since we have so many at home and in the diaspora what is stopping them from coming together putting forward a business plan and asking for financing and establishing their own hospitals?

  50. all you chaps that are NOT medical doctors and are not in the medical service please reserve your remarks because they reek of ignorance and misinformation.lets get the facts right here
    1.the on call allowance as added because of the peanuts dr’s were getting at the time.This on-call is an entitlement for ALL dr’s-thats why chaps in administration from PMOs to DMOs to MDs are getting this allowance.pliz do not be misinformed
    2.@grossly misinformed Shi Mpundu Pa Bwato-what category C are u talking back???iweh most of the brightest and sharpest minds year i year out go to medicine.these are guys who wud have had NO problems entering BENG.AND honestly with all your education can you compare fixing a machine to saving a life?your statement shud send shivers to all who are sober minded.

  51. While I agree that professionals including doctors need to be well remunerated, this on-call allowance on study leave is wrong, wrong, wrong. The doctors should not have accepted that description in the first place, they should have given it another name if it was meant to improve their conditions. Having said that, I wish to remind the doctor of one cardinal point: the qualifications that he will get will belong to him and him alone, that degree will bear his name not mine as tax payer, not Ministry of Health as sponsor. He is lucky to be among the few who will earn a personal qualification at tax payers’ cost and yet be free to use it as he pleases. If he looks at it that way he will stop temporary agonising and count his blessings.

  52. Zavuta Dr i feel sorry for all the comments put forward here, just check who is making funnies of our profession , tibalisa azikazi anu amambala imwe, read between the lines, most of u bloggers, u just itch for insults without reading in depth sha…NIZAMICHAYA LETHAL INJECTION

  53. some comments,awe mwandi.pipo,yu cannot even understand conditions of service,shame on you.for some of us who have worked more than 15yrs in this pr0fession know what this author is trying to put across.plz research on this b4 yu express yo ignorance,do not be experts in areas yu have no grey areas.for sure some of you deserve nothing but lethal knowledge overdose,just want to be part of statistics with regards to comments.as for that beng chap in denial,note this,only 10% of engeers are worthy who they are,the rest are popas in zed compared to drs.beng/med sch pa zed ,entry sch is the same NS,same P110;M110;C110.B110,koswe what is beng?failing to organise road works pa zed,infrastractures do show anything to support that we have beng graduates,ZNBS,ROADS.SCHs etc

  54. “UKO” try getting an interpreter to guide you through the article, It refers to Doctors, NOT EVERY jim & jack working for the MOH!!!
    “Doctor Money”, don’t be pig-headed for nothing, we DON’T GET EDUCATED FOR FREE, you should try Med School & see if its free; after which you may spew as much as you like! Our Bursaries BIND US TO A RURAL POSTING, which is payback, after which we are as free as birds. YOU SHUD BE THANKFUL that we still have many Zed Docs still in Zed.
    I’ll paint a REAL PICTURE, MEDICAL EDUCATION the world over is very expensive, IT’s CHEAPER FOR ANY GOVT TO employ RATHER than train Docs. It’s therefore logical
    after making such investment to retain it!! IT IS VERY EASY & INVITING TO POUR SCORN on Docs but once they leave, NO AMOUNT OF BARKING, will RETURN them!!

  55. “Dr No”, I like your assertion, passmark 40%, meaning 60% ignorant!! SO what is stopping YOU & YOUR LECTURER from enrolling in Med School???? WE REALLY EMBRACE OUR FRATERNITY, we can’t even hold our EXCITEMENT ( ? Excrement!), whilst we wait for your acquaintance!!!!

  56. “Greeny”, NO ONE IS PLEADING FOR YOU TO CRAWL AROUND US, if anything, we would more than be embarrassed. YOU KNOW LIFE IS EASY, just get the MOH to STAFF THE HOSPITALS WITH TRADITIONAL HEALERS, am sure you Tax Kwachas will serve you better then!!!

  57. “Dr No” I would like to see you dismantle a running engine of a car and put it back to normal while the engine is running!
    Doctors do not turn off the heart of the man, woman or child to conduct surgery, even on the heart itself! Ati 40% na 60%! You deceive yourself!

  58. Ladies and gentlemen,this on call allowance is an entitlement for all Drs employed by GRZ.It is fixed.It does not matter how many calls one does.infact for most Drs in rural areas,most of whom are the ones who end up going to study abroad in management programmes because they are in management,when here in zambia,are on call 365 days of the year since most of them are alone in their stations.After puting in so much its only fair that someone should continue gettig this allowance when on study leave abroad.Nost of the Drs have in fact effectively already worked fo

  59. All Doctors get On call allowance,even those in offices who dont work in Hospitals,All doctors at Ministry of Health in Offices get On call including the PS himself.Its unfair to mistreat others on the basis that they are abroad.the public is very misinformed,dont judge the doc harshly based on the contents of the above article,He has a point if you understood the basis and origin of so called on call allowance. most of your comments are ropes of sands.

  60. This doc is seriously opening a Pandoras box on this issue, we have Nurses and COs doing most of the work that he is supposed to be doing and his only worry is on call allowance that he is not even working for, i hope that the pf is reading this letter because it clearly shows you just how money is being misapplied, can money be paid to people who actually deserve it

  61. I simply couldn’t leave your website prior to suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard information an individual provide in your guests? Is going to be again incessantly in order to investigate cross-check new posts

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