Minister to summon ZCTU, ZFE over health bill rebuff
I WILL summon leaders of the labour movement so that we iron out their concerns regarding the proposed National Health Insurance Bill, says Labour and Social Security Minister Joyce Nonde-Simukoko.
In an interview with the Daily Nation yesterday, Ms Nonde-Simukoko said her Ministry would next week invite leaders of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and the Zambia Federation of Employers (ZFE) to a roundtable discussion over their rejection of the proposed bill.
“ZCTU and ZFE are our partners, so I want to sit down with them to hear their views. I need time to prepare because I was out of the country and I have just returned,” said Ms Nonde-Simukoko.
She said her Ministry would release a detailed report after the meeting to chart the way forward.
ZCTU and ZFE have since described as retrogressive, the government’s decision to seek to enact the bill which would compel all Zambians to remit fees as yardstick to accessing health services at centres countrywide.
ZFE and ZCTU have since claimed that government, through the ministry of Health had ignored their input in the matter and proceeded to submit the National Health Insurance Bill number 22 of 2017 to Parliament, yet it did not seek their voices, being key stakeholders.
But the Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia and the Zambia National Union of Teachers have since thrown their weight behind the proposed bill and appealed to all parliamentarians and progressive Zambians to support it when it comes for third reading
The bill, if considered by Parliament after three readings and later consent, is aimed at creating the National Health Insurance Authority.