Friday, March 29, 2024

Zambia Medical Association upset over hike in placement fees for medical students

Share

The Zambia Medical Association says the increase in placement fees for medical students will affect Zambia’s attainment of Universal Health Coverage.

The Ministry of Health has such directed all institutions to to increase placement fees for students in its institutions.

But Association General Secretary Francis Mupeta said the increase will restrict the medical profession for the privileged few

“For those studying Medicine or dental surgery, they be expected to pay K1000 per week. Now, lets put this into context. The second part of medical training is called “clinical medicine”. this is where you actually learn the practice of the Art of medicine. In short, you learn to become a doctor. In the UNZA context, you spend 8 weeks in one rotation and there are 4 rotations per academic year! So these fees translates to K8,000 per rotation i.e surgery, internal medicine, Obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. This makes a total of K32,000 per academic year,” Dr Mupeta said.

“The current fee structure for UNZA is K28,980 per academic year for those in second year. This amount is even less for those in Final year [about K17,000+]. Given that the School needs to pay health institutions, UNZA will have to surrender all its tution fees to hospitals and look for the deficit to make K32,000.”

He added, “If UNZA decides to push this cost to students, which is the most likely, for one to study Medicine, they will need cough K60,980 per academic year for tuitions alone without other fees like; Student indexing, Library and Health.”

“This in my honest opinion is meant to restrict the medical profession for the privileged few. This is will affect Zambia from attaining Universal Health Coverage, a song that will become a theme for bedtime stories of health access.”

He stated that policies should be meant to help people out of poverty not condemn them into such.

“How will our children study medicine?”

17 COMMENTS

    • So what percentage of students are sponsored by MoH? If it’s at least 90% then it’s fine but if it’s 10% then that useless Dr Chitalu Chilufya needs to be fired. And like I said earlier, Dr Chilufya would never, ever put a bandaid on my scrape and I would never appoint him as D0G catcher if I where President.

    • Bushe does PF think through its decisions? Are they trying to completely destroy the country? Everything is so uncoordinated, so anti-progress. We have a huge shortage of medical personnel and you make it next to impossible to train more.
      Anyway we know that the huge loans you acquired for your overpriced projects are now starting to bite. So the people must suffer while you continue living like kings.

    • And yet corrupt clueless Lungu and his select few fly to South Africa for their medical needs, using taxpayers money. You think they care about Zambia’s healthcare? The money they waste on flying corrupt politicians to South Africa could be used to sponsor these students. Imagine the money that was spent on the VP to fly her to India for a medical checkup. But education is apparently not corrupt Lungu’s priority. Vote these clowns out in 2021.

  1. How do people make decisions kanshi….still “silo” management..??? Times have changed bane. . involving stakeholders is the way especially if it’s some decision that will affect a broader spectra of affected persons…. Awe kwena ni Zambia twasebana….people are thinking “loud’ through social media… So in the next article someone will slash fees otherwise…. You wonder why people/leaders can’t sit on a round table, discuss issues with humanely and give a consensus and save people from mental torture….

  2. No only that, we hear that some Nurses and Doctors are going to Angola when there is a shortage our country.Anyway, it is a Tom and Jerry at play.

  3. Very few people in the position of Doctor Mupeta will speak for the oppressed majority let alone face MOH authorities to disagree with them. These MOH decisions to me tell a story. Placing cadres without experience in high positions. They don’t even fully understand the implications of their decisions. The civil service is on its knees through nepotism and tribalism. This was rampant in MMD but has been taken to higher unimaginable levels by the hyenas in PF. Long time ago the system was professional and would itself would identify deserving well experienced people for promotion. Now a person can go from internship to manage a hospital just because they are doctor of which they don’t even understand how it runs. Besides UNZA does not even train these doctors for management.

  4. Minister of Health, I implore you to revisit this matter. Ordinary Zambians ain’t earning much to support their education to those fee heights.

    Let’s do something about it that will reverse this increment.

    Regards sir.

  5. In whose interest they make this decision? I told last week that enemy is in themselves and not the opposition.

  6. This is an indication that Chitalu Chilufya has failed, MoH has some of the absurd fees. HPCZ will demands as much as K420,000 on just 2 penalties, apart from the K11,600 that they collect every year in license fees per institution. Radiation Protection Authority does the same. The Minister is only eloquent but I don’t know what goes on in that head. It’s better he resigns and concentrate his efforts on Luapula United

  7. Am one of the students pursuing health Professional.On this one ,am VERY DISAPPOINTED.Already we are paying huge fees for tuition and other user fees.
    Meal allowance is deleted.Now this NONSENSE.

  8. This is the results of lawlessness by citizens. Instead of discussing issues affecting our lives, they are just busy on social media singing PF. I don’t know whether PF is an object or an animal. We vote them to speak on our behalf but in Parliament they only represent two individuals in the name HH and ECL.

  9. This is what breeds corruption. So how do you think that poor medical student who is not even on a salary manage to find K1000 Every week to pay and on top of that rentals and living expenses while they are still on trial.

  10. This Minister and his counterpart at Higher Education are failures and they have similarities in their behaviours. Both make decisions without much consultations, both are busy bullying their juniors and supporting wrong causes. Both think they’re the most knowledgeable when both have nothing much to write home about in terms of practice and professional performance. Chilufya and Nkandu have let us down.

  11. Awe am in shock. First of the average worker in Zambia get abt k5000 per month to support a family of abt 5 to 8 children and 1 or 2 dependants. So if u have 3 children studying medical programs how will such a person manage?
    this is a country lacking in the area of providing medical services to its people so does it make sense for us to have such exaggerated fees?
    Tell us exactly how’s this developing the country?
    How will we as a country benefit?
    This is the best you would come up the all lot of u put together ba ministry of health and the entire government?

  12. This is a lesson to people who vote blindly. The PF govt has no vision for the country and where there is no vision people perish.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading