Chilufya warns Health workers to improve
FOLLOWING an expose by the Daily Nation, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya has directed health authorities in Lusaka Province to come up with administrative measures to stop long queues and reduce waiting hours for patients at health facilities. Dr Chilufya also emphasised the need for attitude change among health workers towards patients, ensuring that they treat them with courtesy so that they appreciate the quality services being provided. The minister said this during the ground breaking ceremony for phase two of the project for the upgrading of Lusaka™s Kanyama, Chipata and Chawama district hospitals to first level hospitals. Dr Chilufya also directed the Lusaka Province health director to ensure that the patient to health worker ratio at all health facilities reduced. He reiterated that the nation had for a long time complained about hectic queues and long waiting hours, and that it was high time they stopped. Dr Chilufya directed relevant authorities to come up with administrative measures that would ensure that patients were happy with health care service delivery.fiMy colleagues in the health sector, too many times we read reports about people spending long hours at health facilities, long queues, that should come to a stop. We need to put in measures to ensure that the waiting time is reduced. It is unproductive to spend the whole morning at a facility seeking health care. fiI therefore direct the provincial health director to work closely with headquarters and ensure that the ratio between patient and health workers reduces. fiGovernments™ huge investment in the health sector should be matched with attitude change. We must treat our patients with courtesy,fl he said. Meanwhile, Japanese ambassador Hidenobu Sobashima announced in a speech read by deputy chief of mission Shuichi Sakakibara that K20 million for the provision of quality x-ray equipment to 13 hospitals in Zambia was under way. Mr. Sobashima said Japan had provided a K400 million grant for the phase two hospital upgrade project to see to it that UTH was decongested. And Mandevu Member of Parliament, Jean Kapata called on the Ministry of Health to also improve other health posts in the constituency to avoid overcrowding the hospital under upgrade. Ms Kapata, who is Lands and Natural Resources minister thanked the government for fulfilling a promise it made to the people of Mandevu. Mandevu constituency secretary Lemmy Bwalya assured the government of continued support and pointed out that the hospital was one of the many promises the government had fulfilled since the last general elections.