Minister of Higher Education Nkandu Luo has called on medical professionals serving in other countries to come back to Zambia and help in improving the provision of quality health care services.
Professor Luo says it is sad that the country’s health system has continued to face challenges of inadequate staff despite the University of Zambia (UNZA) School of Medicine producing a number of medical graduates every year.
She says this has negatively affected government’s plans to provide quality health care services as closer to the Zambian family as possible.
She was speaking at the UNZA School of Medicine golden jubilee dinner last night.
Prof. Luo noted that to this effect, there was need for Zambian medical practitioners saving in other countries to consider ploughing back in their country by offering their much needed services to Zambians.
She said the UNZA School of Medicine is a critical component to the country’s development agenda because of its mandate which is to save the lives of people.
And Professor Luo has announced that plans to split the University of Zambia into five university colleges will take effect by January 2019.
She pointed out that all the colleges will be headed by principals who will be reporting to the Vice Chancellor in an effort to improve the management and operations at the country’s highest institution of learning.
She also disclosed that the university will have three Deputy Vice Chancellors in charge of administration, academic, research, innovation, science and technology in order to address all the operational problems at the institution.
She named the colleges as College of Medicine, Colleges of Education, College of Science, Engineering and Mines, College of Agriculture and Veterinary services and the College of Humanities, Social and Economic Sciences.
Earlier, UNZA Vice Chancellor Luke Mumba called for concerted efforts from all stakeholders to address the challenges that are affecting the operations at the institution.
Professor Mumba said government alone cannot manage to effectively address all the problems at the university hence the need for other stakeholders to come on board and find lasting solutions to the challenges for the benefit of the students and the county as a whole.
He cited inadequate infrastructure as one of the major challenges, adding that the School of Medicine has been expanded into four schools namely, medicine, public health, nursing and health sciences in a bid to broaden the health care system and increase the number of graduates.
Ever ask yourself why we can have a shortage of medical doctors but never a shortage of MPs? Ever tried to average their years spent on education/yearly earning ratios? We are not victims of brain. We are victims of flawed politics madam Minister.
Including her sister in New York.
Come back to what????
Styopeti lyobe!
And pay them what peanuts? You think they are monkeys?
This tribal government full of nepotism and vindictive people.
You have distroyed our nation ba pompwe ime!
Logic: I agree. Zambia has trained a number of good medical professionals. If they are not given tools to work with, how do they practise their calling? Frederick Chiluba fired doctors who were not even asking for a pay rise but just simple medical tools and supplies to enable them to save lives. They had to leave for other countries and many of them have not come back.
Not victims of brain drain*
Sir be man enough to admit that as long as a party cadre has more power than professionals such as doctors , engineers and the like in the zambian set- up the trend will continue.
These professionals are supposed to have access to low intrest mortgages,car finance, a decent salary and respect above all for their hard work and rear skill set.
Imagine you have more doctors at ministry of health seating behind a desks from Minister down to Deputy PS
Why people always think of workers in government at the expense of people in informal sector or not working st all!
Very ironic….And this coming from a highly trained Professor who has decided to throw her profession and join politics!!
Kaili mulya mweka!!!!!!!
i cannot believe this is coming from a so called professor. you can’t ask this question which you exactly know the answer, why there is this trend (going for greener pastures outside). you Luo do you imagine that these people you are urging to leave their jobs and come back to zambia can just leave those comfortable jobs they have outside and come to poverty stricken Zambia. those people can only come if you give them conditions the same as ministers. during the tenure of Mwanawasa a lot workers came back and you Luo know the reason they trekked back, and Please don’t f00l people by asking obvious questions which you know the answers.
The life of a doctor in Zambia is very difficult and needs to be improved if we are to encourage those serving outside to come back. Apart from improving conditions of service the working environment and culture also need to change. There’s a lot of abuse from seniors directed at junior doctors and postgraduate training at School of Medicine is hell for most doctors. This attitude needs to change if we have to attract doctors back to serve their fellow citizens.
My daughter only got paid after the issue appeared in Lusaka Times. Thank you, ba Lusaka Times! I have advised her to run to where she is going to be respected, paid the wages she deserves and pave a better life for her future children.
Madam how can they cone back when government has no money to pay them. All the medical students who are on internship for the past two years have not even been put on the payroll . They have been told you can just work for free in order to complete the internship or wait until government has money to pay and then you can start your internship if you don’t have money to sustain yourself.
BRAIN DRAIN MIGHT ALSO BE AFFECTING OTHER SECTORS AND THE SOLUTION IS ONLY BY LAUNCHING LABOUR FORCE (PARTICIPANTS) MOTIVATION & INSPIRATION PROGRAMMES…, INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVE WORKPLACE POLICIES AND MANY OTHER BORING THINGS FOR THE PUBLIC EAR BUT EXCITING FOR THOSE QUALIFIED FOR THEM, ITS LIKE TRYING TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES, WINNING THEM OVER FROM FOREIGN STATE COMPETITION… SPLITTING UNZA INTO THE NAMED COLLEGES SEEMS TO BE ‘DOWN GRADING’ THE INSTITUTION ALREADY BRANDED HIGHLY… JUST TO ADD ON, THAT TYPE OF INSTITUTIONAL RESTRUCTURING IS LOW GRADE & OPPOSITE/BACKWARD INNOVATION… UNZA NEEDS MORE OUTLINED POLICIES AND PROCESSES… UNZA IS A RISKY ENVIRONMENT. ENROLLING FOR UNZA POSES A SIMILAR RISK AS PLAYING UNREGULATED AND MANIPULATED CASINO SLOT MACHINES… YOU WILL LOSE A LOT!…
UNZA IS A RISKY ENVIRONMENT. OPEN FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVTY, NEGLIGENCE… UNZA IS UNDER ATTACT DOMESTICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY. UNZA NEEDS MORE OUTLINED POLICIES AND PROCESSES. UNZA IS INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGES, 360°. I RECOMMEND THE MINISTRY NOT TO RESTRUCTURE UNZA INTO COLLEGES BUT BETTER WORK ON UPDATING POLICIES AND PROCESSES LAGGING BEHIND WITH COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES (AND THIS ALONE IS EXPENSIVE), THOSE COSTS FOR MAKING COLLEGES BETTER BE INVESTED IN ENHANCING COMPUTER CAPABILITIES AND SECURITY POLICIES AND PROCESSES AT UNZA.
SABOTAGED*
Show me the money! What colour? Where is Chewe Luo? Hypocrites!
Take a leaf from education, they no longer talk about teacher shortage because a retiring teacher looks to owning his/her own private school or college and never for engagement with MOE. similary, a retiring health worker should look forward to a successful private practice to continue serving those who enjoyed his/her services or should look forward to setting up a health professional college to contribute to the development of human capital in the health sector. in this way even those who left will have something to come back to. As we say in icibemba ‘akaya myabo takelilwa’ ‘shilunga fye mumulo panshi epa myabo’ . the honourable MInister should by now be thinking of retiring to head a school of biomedical sciences and teach immunology again.