ENACT HEALTH BILL- MP
By BENNIE MUNDANDO WE must enact the National Health and Social Insurance Bill Government took to the National Assembly last week, says Bwana Mkubwa member of Parliaments Jonas Chanda.
Dr. Chanda said the bill’s enactment would enable poor people access quality healthcare services.
He said this on Friday in Tokyo, Japan; where he represented the National Assembly of Zambia, as part of the African parliamentary delegation at the global Universal Health Coverage (UHC) forum.
He said every human being was entitled to quality healthcare services because health was a right for all and not a privilege for the few.
“Every human being is entitled to quality healthcare services because health is a right for all, not a privilege for the few. I am therefore calling upon the National Assembly of Zambia to enact the National Health and Social Insurance Bill. This will increase the number of poor Zambians who will access quality healthcare services.
“This will ensure prevention of communicable diseases like cholera, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis; and non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancers,” Dr. Chanda said.
He said data showed that currently, half of the world's population had no access to rural health posts, clinics and health centres.
He said to ensure all Zambian citizens had access to universal healthcare services, there was need for Government to prioritise primary health care services (PHCs), which he said were starting points of universal health coverage.
Dr. Chanda said the PHCs must be accessible and affordable to all citizens within their communities.
He noted that the Ministry of Water, Environment and Sanitation, and the Ministry of Local Government were also key in ensuring access to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation services.
He thanked President Edgar Lungu for taking the lead in opening up more first level referral hospitals in Lusaka; and commended the Ministry of Health for its plans to expand the same model to other populated cities like Ndola and Kitwe.