Acting President Mrs. Inonge Wina has authorised the evacuation of former Vice President Lupando Mwape to South Africa for specialist treatment.
According to a media statement released to the media by Ministry of Health Head of Media Relations Stanslous Ngosa, Mr Mwape, who has been in admission in the University Teaching Hospital for the last nine days, will be flown to South Africa Thursday morning.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr. Lupando thanked President Edgar Lungu and Mrs. Wina for the love and care showed to him.
Mr Mwape served as Vice-President of Zambia from 2004 to 2006 under President Levy Mwanawasa, who indicated that, had Mwape not been defeated in the 2006 parliamentary election, he would almost certainly have been re-appointed as Vice-President. Mwape was succeeded by Rupiah Banda, who became president on Mwanawasa’s death in 2008.
Last week President Edgar Lungu directed the Ministry of Health to evacuate People’s Party President Mike Mulongoti to South Africa for specialised treatment.
President Lungu said that he was concerned with the health of opposition leader and had directed the Ministry of Health to evacuate him to South Africa.
The Head of State had given the Ministry 48 hours to ensure that Mr. Mulongoti is evacuated for specialised treatment.
Mr. Mulongoti is now in South Africa undergoing treatment
Get well soon Mr. Mwape. I am now convinced that joining politics is the best medical insurance available. UTH has a queue of many children waiting for specialist treatment abroad but the bigger chunk of allocated funds is being used to evacuate current or former politicians. One would ask, who can a former Vice president or minister not have their own medical insurance that covers evacuations. Long term solution is to improve facilities and training locally.
Well said Obatala.
Zambia is concerned with preserving history and lets the furture die.
Build the same medical facilities as in South Africa please! How difficult is that? Get one more billion dollars from China if that is what it takes. Heal our children as well.
Pretty sure South Africa also send patients to UTH.
Ba Lupando get well soon.
Politicians and media Stop invading people ‘s privacy. Who says if someone is sick he has to be photographed?
you should have left him……enjoy UTH….
K30,000 per day is what Arwry hospital in kempton park RSA is charging. There are 30 to 50 patients sponsored by zambian govt.
This comes to K2million per day if we add relatives & other logistics. K700-Million per year can build an ultra modern hospital using this money. But we have a vision-less leader, so this doesnt make sense.
OMG, seriously I didn’t this dude until today. Anyway, I usually pay attention to the big fish especially if they’re screwing up so much.
This evacuation has to stop. We need leaders with vision. Why not upgrade a fee paying ward at UTH or Levy and make use of that? Why send all this money to a richer country? SA is not heaven. Stop this now!
If you want better health insurance for yourself in Zambia just join politics….the best benefits in the world better than a CEO of any FTSE firm. We have a leader who goes to RSA for routine medical check and decides to stay there for a further 8 days relaxing as if its not January after the holiday break. These leaders are so detached even this Vice President here being sent by another to RSA instead of improving local facilities or bench-marking with what is at Morningside RSA.
@maloza, great stuff. It’s about time we started putting numbers in kwacha or dollar terms to this level of misuse of our resources so that citizens can measure amount of abuse and put things into context. Why should citizens be heavily taxed for the benefit of a few privileged group or clan?
Get well soon, Sir … Let’s roll
This is what Zambia has come to. With a clueless guy leading the country, healthcare is only for the well connected individuals. If clueless Lungu or Bo Inonge don’t know you, you’re on your own. It means you’re doomed if you ever fall seriously ill. Instead of these clowns investing in healthcare for all in the country, they’re instead using people’s funds to cater to fellow politicians, while the masses of poor Zambians go without proper healthcare. This is unacceptable. But, unfortunately, this trend will continue as long as clueless Lungu remains in office. Vote them out in 2021 to save Zambia from further damage.
Just close the UTH
Edgar Lungu, Innonge Wina should not be the ones to determine who dies or survives.
PF put your priorities first. We need medical facilities for all Zambians.
This must not be accepted as the norm. All lives must be valued evenly.
This is just hypocrisy guys. When you and your nuclear family are sick you take them to the best hospitals you can afford anywhere in the world. If your good neighbour is sick you can only offer transport to the nearest local hospital. Does it mean that you do not value all Zambian life equally?. In fact even when the so called specialized facilities come to Zambia, it won’t mean that all Zambians will immediately have access to them, neither will it mean that you chaps with money will stop going to India and South Africa. Further even in India and South Africa where these facilities exist not all access them. Stop the Hypocrisy.
Edgar Lungu, Innonge Wina should not be the ones to determine who dies or survives.
Yeah include HH GBM and Chishimba Kambwili in this committee!
Even the Old Senile Hen Bo Inonge will want evacuation to RSA…now she is simply enjoying her old self…as far as she is concerned she qualifies for evacuation. …me and you don’t qualify we have to make do with poor facilities at UTH whilst our tax money is used to send medical tourists like Lazy Lungu to RSA hospital to recharge as if he deserves it.
Gotta feel for him in his sick condition but Zambia shouldn’t be an animals farm where some animals are more valued than others.Who will evacuate the poor regular Phiri or Mutinta who are not well known or well connected to money and big names?
I remember how evacuations used to happen to Mine Hospitals on the Copperbelt. It is as if African countries always develop in reverse. What was is no more but now incompetently expensive too.
Lupando Mwape had the chance whilst in power to upgrade UTH. This is f##king unacceptable.
These quacks even insulted PF while crossing over to UPND.
iwee cikala Kudos, is it PF’s money or public money being used.
Look at this small boyi, PF had the chance to develop UTH but they (Miles Sampa) eat all the EUROBOND money…they spend a laughable $30 million on facelift with noone can see out of $1billion.
*…ate…
This trend of Evacuations at the discretion of presidents is becoming a Norm, lets run away from this guys i will not agree with anyone that we have no money to improve our health care to a level were we are able to treat ourselves, 42million USD would have gone very far to improve our health care, misplaced priorities and greediness by Jonathan’s and his Minions,
Scoring points as they pretend to care. It’s not even their money but ours yet they choose who to give it to
This government is a curse!!!
Iwe na iwe curse? Didn’t you see the rainbow during national prayers? Zambia is friends with Israel and you say the nation is cursed!!
These are wasted Lungu Years…history will only remember them for recklessness!!
Even if someone is evacuated it is not a guarantee that they will come back alive. No amount of money in this world can stop the death of any person. We can just wish both evacuees a quick recovery
So the development of this nation will be properly gauged at a time we stop evacuating prominent people for specialist treatment abroad. That’s when we will know that we are indeed developed
Zambia should have a blind and bias free system of medical evacuation based purely on needs/acuteness rather than this who knows who system of fame based evacuation.
Just imagine how many children, women and women we could have evacuated for medical treatment abroad and SAVED lives if we had put the 42 million dollars(42 billion kwacha non rebased) to buy fire tenders(fire wheel barrows). If we were a little bit wiser, we could have the same facilities that current and former politicians are enjoying at the expense of every one in south Africa here in Zambia. SHAME….
Yaba!!! When are they evacuating my sick grandmother and the rest of the sick at UTH. Nikufela mu UTH kwasila. Others are busy making arrangements to go and shop in USA and come back with smuggled goods kabili ni ba VVIP.
I am not sure about God’s plans for me to be born in Zambia. I could have been born elsewhere where there are people who can think.
What a disaster!!!!
I don’t think HH can be this careless and terrible with government resources as a president. Just thinking.
This is a disaster!!!
Ok now this is too much. Can you please bring what’s in South Africa which you sending everyone for,here in Zambia so that we save money once and for all and every Zambian will benefit. If the entire former Ministers all get sick the government will fly them to South Africa at our expense .
Wee said. And these people don’t go alone. They go with dependants who are also taken care of by using taxpayers money. They even go shopping. waya mukutensha pakubwela you are so fat!
why can’t they use money they want to spend on new state house to improve ifipatala? this leadership is a curse.
@rudemonk…
…and your basis for thinking that HH cannot be this careless is……
(A clue: look at the people he has surrounded himself with: failed politicians who were once part of BOMA). I would rather have Peter Sinkamba. Cry the beloved country!
No comment on this one……………I am tired of evacution and reptriation of dead bodies from RSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The money used to evacauate all these people with names could be put in to upgrade our own doctors here and make them specialists. Also that money squanded on huge entourages can pay 2 or 3 expatriate specialists in our country. What is happening is very sad that only people in politics are being favoured yet the votes come from the common man.
The government is full of short sighted and pathetic leadership. Surely before our maker all live is equal. This bias and criteria for selection of who should be a medical evacuee to South Africa stinks and unacceptable double standards practiced by this government. This corrupt administration should put stolen monies in improving services to benefit all the nationals regardless of class than cream off tenders awarded to Chinese! No conscience whatsoever, your day of reckoning is nigh.
All the best to LM…..but this rounds just do bad.
PF and lungu have just spent $17 billion on infrastructure yet overlooked the medical field ????
What infrastructure. A big portion of the US$17billion you gloat about was stolen by the political elite who we still have to evacuate to South Africa at our expense. We are a first class s##t hole country
It’s so saddening to note that these guys will first plunder taxpayers money and when out of office and they fall ill again we have to secure taxpayers money and evacuate them to SA or whatsoever, isn’t this stealing twice?
UTH che ala!
Most of these evacuated guys suffer from what they know cannot be cures. Why taking out for so called specialized treatment? Cancer and HIV are not cured. Awee mweee
This witch soon to be ancestor has no shame honestly. whose money is she using to evacuate people who should be rich enough to look after themselves. This clueless grandma does not care about the thousands in hospitals with no drugs and proper care.
Every life matters , and when your time has come and gone, you take nothing with you. So many die in Zambian hospitals from lack of adequate facilities and yet the few privileged get special treatment!! I wonder whether these greedy politicians in Zambia have any compassion for those poor citizens who vote for them. The reckless spending gets worse each day and one wonders whether or not the ones authorizing these trips have mental capacity to do so !!
Improving local medical facilities should be the first item on the country’s agenda and these evacuations should be scrapped . Zambia should introduce means tested medical treatment , ensuring that those with money and politicians dont rely on government funds for medical treatment.
Let there be audit on how much is expended on foreign medical access. This is tax payers money which is being spent. The nation should know how much has been spent on all foreign medical services. This will assist in coming up with a policy on whether the nation cannot provide its own medical facilities which are provided by SA. If presidential funerals expenditures reflected in the Auditors General report, what of foreign medical accessibility? If the nation is not careful tax payers money is being abused in these foreign medical bills. Every dime need to be subjected to audit report. I have never seen a report on how much was expended on foreign medical bills.
LET US MAKE NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR LOCAL FACILITIES SO THAT THIS ISSUE OF EVACUATION TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF ILLNESS COMES TO AN END. WE CAN IMPROVE OUR INSTITUTIONS IF ONLY WE THINK LIKE HUMAN BEINGS AND NOT THE WAY WE PRETEND TO THINK WHEN WE ASSUME LEADERSHIP. LOOK AT THE MISPLACED EXPENDITURE WE HAVE INCURRED IN THE RECENT PAST DUE TO WRONG DECISIONS AND WRONG PROJECT COSTS JUST THIS WEEK WE WERE TOLD OF THE DELEGATION THAT IS GOING TO ULULATE AT THE FIRE TENDERS HAND OVER AND PEOPLE THINK THAT IS NORMAL. LET US FOR ONCE THINK ABOUT OUR COUNTRY, LOOK AT THE SHORT LIST I CAN GIVE. NEW STATE HOUSE, JET, FIRE TENDERS, MOST EXPENSIVE TOLL PLAZAS JUST TO MENTION A FEW, THEN ALSO LOOK AT THE COST OF EVACUATION, IF WE PUT THINGS IN THE CORRECT PERSPECTIVE WE SHALL RUN AWAY…
Then you wonder why we are running to form political games of the nation. Well the benefits are huge, you do not need to have an expensive health insurance as the state will definitely evacuate you. As much as I do not want to see anyone die, I strongly do not accept this trend of selective evacuation of the former political leaders. My question is what did Mr Mwape do to help improve the healthcare sector during his time in power? WHat is Wina and Lungu doing to avoid the expensive exploitation? I hope we do not need to go this direction even after 10 years from now.
No nensoni mwebantu……why the privileged few….what about those children of the future….why even invest in the old who never did anything to make things better when they were in government…. They were just busy buying lands and vehicles… And eating bacon and what not….or maybe they were not even corrupt after all…coz one would think they amassed enough to see them through the hard times of life….
I work for Ministry of Health and I tell you that that PF has invested massively in the health sector than any govt so far in infrastrature and modern equipment.
However, the fact remains that we still have complications that we still in refer to other advanced and specialized hospitals in South Africa and other developed countries.
Good job PF.
So what is complicated about Mulongoti and Lupande’s illnesses? These people were once in Govt, they should have saved for such things and made sure we had proper medical facilities, the ones who should be evacuated are the likes of the boy with needles whose situation is more complicated than the two. This has to stop period
@29 _ Show us the evidence that you have , showing that ordinary, poor citizens also get selected to receive specialist medical treatment abroad. People with treatable conditions die in your hospitals due to lack of basic facilities and meanwhile you send politicians and their offspring away for treatment!! What’s so specialized about traeting HIV/ AIDS? Can you not run tests and treat AIDS and cancer in Zambia? If you are going to send patients to SA for specialized treatment, you should then stop discriminating on the basis of status. As a health professional , you should practice equality and diversity !! Every life matters !!
The disapproval arises because it’s out of tax these medical jaunts are carried out. The truth is even in the west some people choose to receive further or specialused treatment in another country. In the UK, some people source treatment in Germany, France or other country for specialist treatment for Cancers that cannot be treated or for new treatments unavailable. The act of travelling to another country is not the issue.
Firstly, note these individuals started treatment at a Zambian hospital as far as the available treatment went, then a more specialist treatment unavailable in Zambia was required. I think the fairest way is to ensure that ALL citizens can have this option. The government should look into giving treatment vouchers to all citizens to travel abroad if the…
The government should look into giving treatment vouchers to all citizens to travel abroad if the treatment in Zambia is not adequate. This should be for serious conditions that can benefit or improve life chances.
The government/s of the Republic of Zambia now, past, and future have been self indulgent as to think on such an elitist scale. The option must be available to ALL CITIZENS. EQUALITY, Leadership lives are no more important in God’s eyes than the poorest man in the country. STOP THIS NONSENSE NOW and make funding on a percentage available to all.
This matter of equality to treatment abroad must be a Mandate on ALL political party manifestos. Usually parties fail tompresent issues to the citizens at election time but I think NO PARTY, should be selected for our votes without telling us what they will do to equalise access to medical treatment AND what they will do to get our just rights to our Mines wealth.
Don’t give political gangs (partys or is it parties) a stage to windbag on selection based on their personal charisma. THIS IS SICK HABIT THEY INDULGE IN!
The day we have a law that says all medical treatment for leaders should be in Zambia and all ministers take their children to government schools is the day Schools and hospitals in Africa will be the best in the world.
I have little qualms with evacuations what worries me is the illness for we which we evacuate people…if one has a terminal illness (touch wood) why evacuate? Its an unnecessary cost. Second I thought its doctors who should access and determine who should be evacuated not politicians. Case in point, the boy with many needles why wasn’t he evacuated? the enjoined twins and many more “complicated” cases…but we evacuate for a knee surgery, sugar deficiency and whatever else diseases we have…..that are at times self inflicted.
The medical evacuation to SA used to be R60,000+ one way. Tests, treatment and stay (even at Milpark) higher than that. I am not sure weather we only hear of the departed but many brought to SA return in coffins, another costly flight. If families can afford the costs, no one would complain but the current procedure is inequitable and in many cases politically motivated. The politically connected are evacuated when it is already known they will not get well. The reason is to appease the family and to score political points. That is what is wrong. Fixing our local hospitals would be efficient and effective. For those of you too young to know, public schooling was the best in Zambia and that is why if someone went to medical school elsewhere that person was not good enough to study…
The blame lies with Zambian people eg (Mr Kudos ) not the politicians ,who blindly support politicians at all cost and who would not like to change the status quo because they have everything to lose , therefore have allowed this appalling situation.
Comment: you people I don’t know what you are using in your brains
that money which these people are using in South Africa is not lungu’s money but yours
so if pf can spend millions of money just please 4 to 5 people what of the poor zambians like you?
people who made him to b in state house they dying in the same hospital of uth,
if he goes there he is just going straight to see his fellow politicians passing all the people without even looking where they have slept
they are dying day and night
why can’t he invest that money into health sector? than waiting for one politician to get sick so that you can make names on there heads,
for me i call that no sense
Iwe Maureen, what privacy? Tax payers have the right to know how their money is being spent. Photos are proof. God has a way of dealing with plunderers. Where is FTJ, Sata, Gen Tembo, Paul Tembo, Penza, Bennie Mwiinga, Mushota, warrant officer Christopher Chawinga, Dean Mungomba……the list of plunderers is endless.
The blame is on everyone to let these thieves
Politicians must be treated at UTH. Only then will they improve health facilities.
They are dead horses anyway who have out lived their masters FTJ, Mwanawasa & Sata.
EVACUATE ONLY COMPLEX CASES OF OUR YOUTH WITH A FUTURE.
Look at the wastage on late Daniel Munkombwe evacuation MHSRIP. What for?
SPEND THE MONEY ON TRAINING OUR YOUNG DOCTORS WITH A RETENTION STRATEGY!
Simple.