Minister warns contractor on time management and quality service

Minister warns contractor on time management and quality service

Kalomo, May 22, ZANIS ——- Health Deputy Minister, Christopher Mulenga has warned local contractors to be wary of the time frame on awarded projects  saying they risk their contracts being terminated if they do not meet the expectations of the communities.

And the ministry of health says it is to construct 650 health posts countrywide and putting up a first level hospital in every district.

Mr Mulenga said each health post will be full-fledged with  a borehole, solar panel  incinerator, improved ventilated toilets , equipment and a house while the first level district hospitals would be built with at least 10 to 15 houses.

Southern province is to benefit 99 health posts out of the chunk with Kalomo getting 10 health facilities.

Kalomo has currently been funded a KR12 million under phase one modern hospital being built by Conquest limited, a local contractor.

The minister who was in Southern province recently inspecting developmental health programmes also said his ministry was in the process of upgrading some district hospitals into general hospitals and turning some of the general hospitals into national teaching
hospitals to train more medical staff in an effort to improve health services delivery to the community.

Meanwhile, government is pondering to introduce mobile air medical ambulances to rise to the challenge of disasters in rural areas alongside marine and land ambulances.  

Mr Mulenga said his ministry has since acquired 205 ambulances that would be distributed to health facilities countrywide.

The ministry is also scheduled to establish six hubs of medical supplies as opposed to have only a central based Medical Stores in Lusaka and would start with Choma and Chipata, the provincial capitals of Southern and Eastern provinces respectively.

“We are not experimenting, we are implementing what we promised the Zambian people as contained in our party manifesto on the health sector, there would no longer be any need to evacuate people to South Africa or India because what we are doing can be accessed by the
patients here in Zambia,” Mulenga said.

And Mulenga has appealed to civil servants to critically look into the removal of subsidies saying though the issue was politically not health, it was economically well and the situation will be vindicated in future.

“Removing subsidies is just like removing a jacket out of your body but the reality is that we are buying the same commodities at the actual price which was wrapped up in unforeseen blanket,” Mulenga implored.

Recently government removed subsidies on fuel and mealie-meal, resulting in an increase on transport fares, mealie meal and other commodities.