Thursday, March 28, 2024

HPCZ to ensure competent health personnel serve the health sector

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The Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ) has clarified that the introduction of licensure examination for health practitioners is meant to have competent and skilled health workers in the country.

HPCZ Senior Public Relations Officer Terry Musonda says the country needs skilled manpower which will serve the nation diligently.

Mr Musonda said this in an exclusive interview with the Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS) in Lusaka today.

He called on health students in training institutions to fully apply themselves in the practical oriented courses so they may acquire more skill in order to obtain the professional license to effectively perform in the industry.

Mr. Musonda explained that the Council is on a transformative agenda of ensuring that the medical industry is served with qualified and skilled personnel as it is one industry which is delicate.

“As a council it is necessary to assess the competence of various practitioners before they are given practicing licenses”, he said.

He added that the licensure examinations were introduced last year and has since received overwhelming response.

Mr. Musonda disclosed that the Council is set for the May examinations and appealed to students to apply themselves and take the opportunity to obtain the licenses.

He stated that there has been calls from the general public for the various health practitioners to be well equipped and skilled in various fields.

20 COMMENTS

  1. I am getting my British nationality soon and i KNOW that the helath system here is BETTER than Zambia

    I feel good

    Thanks

    BB2014,2016

    • A PhD holder is expected to know the difference between NATIONALITY and CITIZENSHIP.
      What you’ll be getting is British Citizenship, not nationality!!

    • Chosen one Mudala well said this Mushota thing is a fraud a bunch of lies meant to stir debate.
      You can clearly see the empty head above those shoulders.
      Dont take it too seriously its just an empty tin period!

    • I am surprised this is not the case already. I thought every Doctor, Nurse, Midwife, Clinical Officer, even Ambulance Driver, are all licensed. No? Wow, this is news to me!

      Here in the USA, simply getting your diploma or degree is not enough to work as a nurse or doctor. You need to pass State Board exams (or some other sanctioned exams) to get your practicing license. Without that, they can’t let you anywhere close to a patient. My wife graduated from a nursing school but she still had to take and pass State Exams to get her nursing license. In fact, if we move to another State, she has to take and pass State licensing board exams for her to work in that State….so I understand.

      If Lawyers have to pass an exam to get a license in order to practice Law in Court, what more Health…

    • Continue…

      Practitioners? People who deal with life and death issues of citizens need to be licensed, period!

      But I still can’t believe Health Workers/Practitioners in Zambia are not required to get licensed before they can get employed in this field. Is this true?

  2. The person spearheading this nonsense did not undergo any exams. BEsides that we hear that he will be favoring t0ngas and their traditional couisins. The government is still in the dark. Watch the space. It will take 100 years to be discovered just the way the political tribolism was discovered recently.

    • Lies! lies! lies!
      This is headed by a very respectable and highly competent individual.
      Sometimes be objective even when you lack objectivity.

    • So just because he himself didn’t go through exams should stop us from make changes? Is that your logic @CONCOUt?

      Talk about being ANTI-CHANGE and NOT MOVING WITH THE TIMES!

  3. ‘He stated that there HAS been calls from the general public for the various health practitioners to be well equipped and skilled in various fields.’
    English!

  4. It’s the most stupid regulation ever, it has never happened anywhere in the world. Mujajati must be tamed before he grounds the health sector. He has never run his own practice so he doesn’t understand these things. It’s only people like Professor Munkonge who’s successful both in private and public sectors that can properly advise on such policy matters. There are many clinging to administrative govt positions because they’re used to signing cheques and getting commissions and sitting allowances. What policy can they formulate except one to benefit themselves?

    • Which world are you talking about? I fact, I am surprised that this not the case already.

      Looking at your avatar-flag I assume you live in the UK. Tell me if they can allow such in the United Kingdom? People working as Nurses, Doctors, Midwives, Ambulance drivers, Home Healthcare Nurses, etc, without having sat and passed license exams. Unless you want to lie, this can never be allowed and is not the case. So one wonders why you think Zanbia should be different.

    • Not sure which field of health they are talking about… as far as doctors and pharmacists are concerned, in Zambia, these HCPs will write an exam at the end of the course in university, thereafter they will do a year long internship, and another examination after internship. Only then do they get a licence to practice. This has been the procedure for over 10yrs. Foreign trianed HCPs in these fields will undergo an interview and written examination before a 2 year internship. Thereafter, another examination. Pass all that before licensing. This has been standard licensing practice in Zambia. Which HCPs are we on about?

  5. I hope this won’t be just another money making scheme for the government. All these exams & licences etc will naturally be accompanied by exorbitant fees.

  6. VERY GOOD MOVE UNFORTUNATELY CHINESE, RUSSIAN,BULGARIAN,COLUMBIA,BRAZIL TRAINED ZAMBIAN HEALTH PERSONNEL WILL NEVER PASS THOSE EXAMS AFTER PARENTS SPENT SO MUCH MONEY ON TRAINING FEES, SO WHAT HAPPENS IN THAT CASE NOW? MORE ESPECIALLY CHINA TRAINED DOCTORS ARE ALL FAKE DOCTORS EXCEPT THOSE WHO WENT ON GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIPS.

  7. ANYOKO ,Foreign trained doctors have been writing HPCZ exams since the 1990s and passing them.In fact a number of HODs at The big hospitals in Zambia are foreign trained.This exam will be a new thing for Zambian trained doctors and medical staff because until now,they would be automatically employed.Your comments are rather nasty.you sound like a really jealous and disgruntled guy.Medical Schools are all over.Just go and become a doctor if it really hurts you that you are not one instead of that rubbish you putting out

  8. Ladies and gentlemen until very recently, there was one medical school in Zambia – Unza ridgeway.The students trained there were examined rigorously by the faculty. Exams for students who came from abroad were introduced to make their entry into the Zambian medical system as smooth as those from ridgeway. The same faculty did the exams so there was no reason to make the ridgeway trained take that exam. The scenario has now changed, we have lots of medical schools locally and of course abroad. This calls for a standardized approach to ensure that everyone is well trained and equipped to serve the Zambian people. All doctors in Zambia have always been required to have practicing licenses renewable annually at a fee. The new thing is that the licensing fee is now exorbitant.

  9. @ Chita. Good point. these licenses, however, will be for all health professionals besides medical doctors. So lets just say until recently most health professionals were trained in public schools which have an inbuilt quality assurance mechanism. I could be mistaken but nurses also have licenses (or practicing certificates?). I would also urge the HPCZ to work with ‘Higher Education Authority’ so that all institutions training health professionals are up to required standards. My hope is that no one is using these exams as a way of ‘punishing’ young ambitious and smart health professionals who have opted to train outside Zambia in countries such as Zimbabwe, SA and Kenya. It is a good policy though.

  10. Good move by HPCZ! Health workers have always been getting practising licences but these exams have added that extra level of scrutiny to ensure that only suitable candidates are allowed to work in our country.

  11. Yambayamba do not show your ignorance here. All health practitioners are examined and certified. By the way your wife cannot even practice here because she will just run away at the sight of that long queque of crying babies from those fertile wonen from Ngombe compound. She will not even have the energy to give injections to those overcrowded wards. So. Just shut up and enjoy your time in America and come back empty handed, like most other people before you

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