Recruit more health personnel, govt urged
By JUSTINA MULENGA
THE Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia (PSZ) has called on government to increase the recruitment of health personnel from the 1000 as allocated in the 2018 National Budget to at least 7500.
In a statement, PSZ president David Banda said the recruitment of 1000 health personnel was inadequate and that the health sector and in particular, the pharmaceutical sector was in a crisis of adequate personnel.
“Most of our duties are either done by nurses or classified daily employees. We hope and pray that the ministry will source more resources to recruit more personnel. In Zambia, we need more than 7500 pharmacy personnel and in government we have less than 1200,” he said.
Mr Banda noted that there was an overall increase in the 2018 National Budget as compared to last year’s, pertaining to health allocations.
“There is generally an increase in the allocation to health as compared to 2017 budget, 8.3% to 9.5%. However, it falls short of the Abuja declaration of 15 per cent to which our country is a signatory. We therefore request the Ministry of Finance to endeavor to reach 15 per cent or more as an allocation to health,” he said.
He noted that despite the minimal increment to health, there was a huge increment to drugs and medical supplies allocations of about 56 per cent.
“We applaud government on the extra storage facilities that they have budgeted for across the country, the storage has been a problem for a long time. We hope after completion, the extra storage space will reduce out of stocks of essential medicines, improve accessibility and reduce damage and expiration of medicines,” he said.
Mr Banda further urged government to strengthen security around these medicines and provide leadership on the use of these medicines by creating a directorate of pharmaceutical services.
The directorate will oversee and provide policy guideline on the utilization of the medicines to the benefit of all Zambians, he said.
He also urged members of PSZ to apply themselves fully and reduce wastage of medicines.
“They should guard these medicines and only to be used for its intended purpose to the intended community and not for personal gain,” he said.