Chipata City Mayor, George Mwanza, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to prioritising universal health coverage to the public.
Mr. Mwanza says this has led the local authority to intensify talks with some stakeholders to expedite the process of providing mechanised water systems in health facilities.
Speaking when he officiated at the commemoration of this year’s International Day of Midwifery, Mr. Mwanza said, following the directives of the President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema to prioritise the needs of the health sector, there was a need to support the sector.
He said that the reduced maternal deaths from 380 to at least 278 per 100,000 new born babies, was currently not good enough, especially that the population was increasing.
The theme of this year’s celebration is Together again from Evidence: To Reality.
And Eastern Provincial Health Director, Dr Mathews N’gambi, said the sector faced a lot of challenges which included lack of adequate ambulances, electricity, modern ablution blocks and mothers’ shelters in some facilities.
In response, Mr. Mwanza acknowledged the challenges and expressed sadness that some midwives continued to use phones for lighting in the maternity wards, a situation he said made health workers fail to perform their duties effectively.
The Mayor called on stakeholders to support the health sector in order to increase efficiency in the country.
Meanwhile, a grandmother of twins, Joyce Tembo, whose daughter had premature delivery, said the twins were saved due to early antenatal visit and care that was offered by health workers at Mbenjele Clinic, a situation she appreciated.
And Zambia Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians representative, Dr. Yolani Tembo, said the public needed to embrace health services rendered to them by the health professionals in order to save lives, especially on maternity care and gynaecological issues.
“A wealthy country depends on the health of the public who work hard and are productive,” Mr Tembo said.
I thought that kid died? Thank God he is alive.
The UPND doesn’t seem to have a clear policy on health service delivery. The only thing that’s clear is that they want to exclude all those that dealt with the PF . The effects of the mismanaged creation of new supply chains are gross and there doesn’t seem to be any urgency. There are no efforts to perfect the teething problems of NHIMA nor are there any efforts to capture as many people on the scheme. So how does this government expect to achieve universal health care for all and which vehicle are they going to use?
Ok what is universal health coverage
You keep repeating it