The Health Professions Council of Zambia says it is investigating reports of some health facilities sending away patients for not wearing face masks.
Council Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Bwembya Bwalya has disclosed that the HPCZ has received several complaints from members of the public of patients being denied access to medical care because they lacked face masks.
Mr. Bwalya said the wearing of face masks is mandatory, but refusing to provide healthcare service to a patient for not having a mask is unethical.
He said health practitioners or members of staff at health facilities must utilize the situation to sensitize patients and the general public on the importance of wearing masks to prevent spread of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the HPCZ Registrar and Chief Executive Officer has applauded President Edgar Lungu’s directive through the Ministry of Health to recruit 400 Doctors and 3,000 other health workers.
He said it is HPCZ’s hope that the health workers are recruited and deployed as soon as possible to mitigate the current shortages of human resource in the health sector.
Mr. Bwalya was speaking during a media briefing in Mansa, Luapula Province where the Council is assessing preparedness of health facilities for COVID-19.
Ba HPCZ, these patients most likely were not turned away and they are exaggerating everything because they are angry to get back at the poor health workers who are only trying to do the right thing to protect themselves and other patients at the facilities. These deliberately unmasked patients make difficult patients. If they can’t obey a simple Rule of mandatory wearing of masks, will they follow medical advice? Let’s protect the Health Workers from unruly people! The rules are simple! Whenever you are going to a public place, wear a mask! And it’s not health workers turning unmasked people away. That is the job of gate keepers, or Security! Health Workers reserve the right to protect themselves! Help to sensitize unruly members of the public on the importance of masking up when going…
It’s a catch 22. The health professionals are only abiding by the directives and trying to avoid unnecessary infections. In this case I believe they have every right to send you back. When we provided free pf masks some people criticised us. How do you refuse a free good. So you can’t complain that you can’t afford masks. Kz
10 more cases today, brace yourselves!
Corona ni teyaku vyalo kweka. Zambia is NOT covered by the blood of a dead racist Jew. Better start preparing the mass graves
Health Workers, just call Lusambo to deal with those coming without masks! Attend to them at your own risk!
You cannot tell us that you are investigating, if you want our health workers to be infected with covid-19 then encourage those who don’t want to put on face masks to come to you and attend to them. It’s like you are not serious with this disease
We are expecting you as a professional body to discourage people to go to the public places without face masks.
Today with ten new cases, do you know people who have the virus?
This is very disappointing bwana.
“Council Registrar and CEO Bwembya Bwalya said health practitioners or members of staff at health facilities must utilize the situation to sensitize patients and the general public on the importance of wearing masks to prevent spread of COVID-19.”
Exactly! All the more shameful therefore to see the “hon” Minister of Health and other so-called public leaders brazenly display contempt for the public by wearing masks below their nose. WTF is that? It does ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD and is worse than merely wasting a perfectly good mask because of also setting a TERRIBLE EXAMPLE!
Surely, if anyone deserves a beating with Mr. Lusambo’s distancing stick for flouting the law (…in what he claims is “his province” as if Lusaka somehow belongs to him alone?) it’s characters like that!