MoH in Mwinilunga commits to working with the local authority

NORTH-WESTERN Province Health Director, Luckson Chidikita, says his office will work closely with local authorities to ensure that the primary health care services for the people are met despite the devolution that has taken place.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Mwinilunga Town Council Secretary, Dr Chidikita said despite the decentralisation, the Ministry of Health has not completely detached itself from the provision of health Services.

“As a Ministry of Health, we have not completely detached ourselves from the provision of health services, you may wish to know that in the devolution charter, we still have partnership in terms of human resource and technical issues,” Dr Chidikita said.

Dr Chidikita stated that the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development will work in collaboration to provide the necessary services to the people.

“We have migrated most of our staff if not hundred percent already under your jurisdiction and we hope that the teething issues that are there will be ironed out as we go on,” Dr Chidikita stated.

He further commended the government for the decision to move some health services to the local authorities as they are the ones in touch with the grass root.

“And we know that the primary health care system world-wide normally is under the local government because you are the people that are in contact with the grass root and hence when the new dawn came into power, they actualised the devolution,” he said.

Mwinilunga Town Council Secretary, Gift Kakoma, said his office has already welcomed a good number of officers from the district health office who are now reporting to the council.

“Sir, I can assure you that the response from the district health team has been timely. Immediately the correspondence was sent to this office indicating the secondment, I think it was barely a week before we started receiving officers from the district health office reporting to us,” Mr Kakoma said.

Meanwhile, Mwinilunga Development Council of Elders Chairman, Henry Kakisa, has appealed to the government to conduct more sensitisation on the devolution that has taken place as most people do not understand.