The government has warned of taking stern action against health practitioners engaging in professional misconduct and bad attitude towards clients seeking health care services in both public and private health facilities.
Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Kennedy Malama, said government would not condone such vices in the health sector and appropriate action would be taken against those found wanting.
Dr Malama also cautioned members of the public not to take the law into their hands when aggrieved while seeking health services in public and private health facilities.
“You should follow the laid down procedures in lodging your complaints and I assure you that appropriate action will be taken. Abuse or violence against health practitioners shall not be tolerated and will be met with the strongest action,” he said.
He urged health practitioners to aim at providing reasonable, safe, non-discriminatory health care and to always observe patients’ rights as articulated in the HPCZ Patients’ Rights Charter.
Dr Malama said this in Livingstone on Monday at the launch of the Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ), Southern Hub – Livingstone Regional Office.
He further said the opening of the HPCZ office would save health practitioners and managers of health facilities and institutions from making trips to Lusaka to seek various services at the HPCZ Headquarters.
“Our practitioners will now be able to spend more time serving our people; there will be a reduction in the cost of doing business and we will have motivated health practitioners and managers of health institutions and training institutions,” he said.
Dr Malama also urged HPCZ not to relent but to continue with the decentralization program until the whole country was served.
And speaking earlier, HPCZ Vice Chairperson, Elizabeth Chizema, said the office would serve health practitioners and institutions in Southern and Western Province and was expected to cater for over 2000 people.
Dr Chizema said the launch of the office was a physical manifestation of government’s decentralization policy.
Meanwhile, Livingstone Mayor, Eugine Mapuwo, urged health practitioners to carry out their duties according to their respective job descriptions as doing the opposite would put their jobs at risk.
Mr Mapuwo said it was important for the health practitioners to understand their profession and serve members of the public well, since the community now had a nearby platform to submit complaints when aggrieved, unlike in the past when they had to travel to Lusaka
Why is government always warning its employees?
Too much talk and zero action.
ine i was attended to like a queen when i went to deliver my 4th Child somewere in October at U.T.H . but i agree most these nurses and doctors are sulky! especially these tuma young ones. i almost slapped one young at levy hospital for be in being arrogant.
In this day and age some women are still breeding like goats! Tsk..tsk..
The doctors have a god mentality. I met a stupid one at choma general hospital who thought that she was the messiah. I almost reacted but thought that maybe she was attending her periods
LT, can you investigate and give us an update on the following health news:
– the boy from eastern prov who had wires/needles in his body
– co-joined twins that were separated, got abandoned by parents and later adopted by the state
– how edem djokotoe is doing
– guy Scott
– the hospital that closed a mortuary for lack of power(should be in southern province I think)
– $288000 ambulances, this cost included training, how many have been trained?
“Government warns Health Practitioners Mistreating Patients”-LT
No more five years. How are you going to defend statement like these from GRZ this is a warning sign that they’re not going to participate in presidential debates.
This is 2020, everything is now online. Why should people be travelling long distances instead of government improving online services. While others are embarking on driverless cars you are still coming down from the trees like apes ( no disrespect to apes because they are smart).
There is too much talk ba Malama than action. If you want to monitor the service delivery of health workers, first educate the public on how to report any incidents in health institutions. For example,The procedure to lodge a complain must first be to the immediate in-charge ,then to the head of the unit ,head of the institution,to the PS and finally to the Minister.
After 50 years of independence,we must be talking about improved service delivery to the citizens.
Inspire health workers,dont threaten them like you have been doing for 5 decades. Threats never work
PF under ECL is a GRZ of just warnings! Do they understand how ineffective this Managerial Style is? Everyone gets put off! It’s the quickest way to kill creativity in your team. Everyone will be working with fear and that is counterproductive! Effective way to manage professionals is through wise counsel and capacity building training! MOH must also realize that health workers especially in rural areas are working under trying conditions! You have Labour wards where there are no gloves, appropriate cannulas, no IV fluids, etc and because workers are working under fear, they buy their own gloves to use for public work. If we want to improve things, let’s take Managerial training to improve our management skills!