Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya has given UTH management a seven days ultimatum to clear floor beds at the institution.
Dr. Chilufya says floor beds pose health risks and should be not entertained.
He has also instructed the health personnel at UTH to ensure there are no long queens of patients seeking treatment especially that government has taken a deliberate policy to upgrade some township clinics into first level hospitals.
Dr. Chilufya says as health Minister, his first task is to ensure that UTH regains the public confidence thereby improving service delivery .
Meanwhile, government has invested over 860 thousand U.S dollars in networking the university teaching hospital-UTH to the rest of the hospitals countrywide using Tele-Radiology system.
Government has since contracted a Zimbabwean company, Baines imaging group to connect nine health facilities to UTH in the first phase of the project which is expected to be completed soon.
This means that any diagnosis and laboratory tests carried outside Lusaka will immediately
reflect at UTH which is the command center for immediate solution.
Once it reflects, experts will be on hand to advise on the treatment hence cutting unnecessary travels to Lusaka by patients especially those from the remote parts of the country.
The hospitals that will be connected to UTH in the first phase are Levy Mwanawasa, Livingstone, Ndola central, Kitwe central, Mansa, Kasama, Chipata and the cancer diseases hospitals.
UTH Head of radiology and consultant Dr. Veronica Sunkutu-Sichizya confirmed this to ZNBC news when Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya inspected the modern laboratories and various equipment that have been bought and installed at the hospital last evening.
Among the equipment are ultra sound, digital chest ex-ray, CT scan ex-ray, whole body imaging and plain film ex-ray machines among others.
Dr. Chilufya says government will continue to invest more in the digitalising of the health facilities in the country to ensure quality health service delivery to the public.
And UTH Head-pathology and microbiology Hamakwa Mantina has praised government for modernizing the laboratories at the institution saying this will help in improving health service delivery to patients.
I think Dr. Chilufya is conducting an improper examination by directly touching the breasts of a patient. That is what the inventor of the stethoscope, Rene T Laennec, was exactly trying to avoid by creating the tool we all associate with doctors!
In modern day diagnostics, the stethoscope is fast becoming obsolete …
Ba Nsimbi he was trying to avoid putting his head to the breast of the woman, not his hand
We have a shortage of doctors and we are still appointing doctors in ministerial role…is it because a ministerial salary dwarfs that of our doctors. When is this mindset going to end?
Sick people will be discharched to satisfy ba Chilufya no lupala like chishelemuko ca ndoshi!
Instead of commanding emptying and stopping to put people in mortuary, now the mortuary will be so full in 7 days.
@Jay Jay
I thought other people are saying Dora Siliya is misplaced because she is a Journalist!
A zim company BAINES contracted at US$860,000 hmmm i smell a rat on this one with ZANU-PF Mugabe
“and should be not entertained” Kikikikikikikiki!
We’re are the pictures of these modern labs ??? LT pleas don’t just print hear say.
Yes Dr. Chitalu, apart from letting UTH clear floor beds, UTH should also not accomodate two patients per bed. That is unhygenic. What are you doing about the water situation at UTH, the broken toilets in the wards and the people answering the call of nature on the floor? Dr. Chitalu instead of worrying about computerization, worry about such basics as beds and people sleeping two per bed, broken toilets and the general smell of UTH. UTH is our teaching hospital, let it reflect as one. PF is being given 5 years to pull up their socks, otherwise come 2021, we are going to vote for an opposition party (not UPND though). So clean up your acts! This is no joke!
And of course the first hospitals off the line of rail to be connected are PF strongholds!!!! Viva UPND!!!!
Here we go again with lazy journalism…what is Tele-Radiology system? A single, integrated technology platform for managing radiology workflow… So the govt is splashing out a whooping $860,000 to set up a medical system using a Zim company – why not just go straight to renowed companies that will do it at a less than half that figure? Why is it that you can never use Microsoft like they do at the NHS..tell us the Zim’s track record. where was this tender advertised?
What has happened to editors, why is I that it’s only here in zambia were people with very little knowledge write about things they don’t even understand and editors don’t even go through them.
No long queens??? What’s that?
Bring sanity to UTH. There are a lot of gaps in service delivery and one of them is lying patients on the floor. I know you Dr. Chitalu Chilufya how hard working you are. Help to put things right as the late Sata did when he was Minister of Health. You have our support.
LONG QUES AT HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IS AS A RESULT OF LACK OF SUPERVISION BY SUPERVISORS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS (HOSPITALS, CLINICS INCLUDED) AND ALSO LACK OF SELF SUPERVISION. MANY A TIME YOU WILL FIND SUPERVISORS CHATTING WITH THEIR SURBODINATES IN THE SPIRIT OF DEVELOPING GOOD RELATIONS WITH THE THEM. AS A SUPERVISOR HOW DO YOU HOPE TO DISCIPLINE YOUR SURBODINATE IF YOU ARE CLOSE FRIENDS? SO, INSTEAD OF ATTENDING TO PATIENTS HEALTH WORKERS SPEND THEIR TIME CHATTING, AND THEY ALSO REPORT LATE, AND WHEN THEY GO BREAK THEY FOR EVER. IF THE HEALTH WORKERS PRIORITIZED ATTENDING TO THEIR CLIENTS FIRST BEFORE CHATTING, THERE WOULD BE NO LONG QUES! THE MINISTER SHOULD BE TAKING IMPROPMTU VISITS TO SOME OF THE INSTITUTIONS EVEN AT 0800 HRS TO FIND OUT IF THE SUPERVISORS HAVE ARRIVED, HE WILL FIND…
Its really a good move that the Minister of Health has taken.The other thing the Doctor is to look at is the expansion of the wards that has floor beds( especially Maternity and labour ward). We really need expansion to this Teaching Hospital to avoid floor beds. This will create room for more beds and no floor beds will be there.
As for long ques at the institutions all we need is committed health personnel and then let government employ all those who have graduated from schools,colleges and universities. The humble request to the minister is to look in the establishment of each and every health facility were Heath services are provided. This is to avoid shortage of staff in health facilities country wide. Thank you