Zambia displeased with soaring medical cases treated abroad

By DOREEN NAWA
THE Ministry of Health has expressed displeasure at the increasing number of medical cases being treated abroad.
And the ministry says the challenges in addressing non-communicable disease countrywide are too big to be left to the government alone.
Speaking at a health symposium at Radisson Blu Hotel in Lusaka yesterday, Minister of Health Joseph Kasonde said Government has started upgrading hospitals countrywide to ensure that they provide quality healthcare services.
“We have spent huge sums of money as a country in procuring medical services abroad, and it is time we got quality machinery in our hospitals and started to manage medical cases within Zambia,” Dr Kasonde said.
And Dr Kasonde said with the high demand for the treatment of non-communicable diseases, Government needs support from the private sector.
In a speech read for him by director clinical care and diagnostic services Welani Chilengwe,   Dr Kasonde said there is need for public private partnerships in ensuring quality healthcare delivery countrywide.  
The health symposium was organised by BBraun, a German medical and pharmaceutical manufacturing company with offices and facilities in more than 50 countries.
BBraun has a standing contract with government to upscale the University Teaching Hospital Dialysis Centre and to also introduce the same service at Livingstone General Hospital and Ndola Central Hospital.
Dr Kasonde said Government is delighted to synergise with BBraun, which has developed interventions in the medical field that have become synonymous with generic name excellence.
And Germany Embassy counsellor Isolde Aust said some German companies which have invested in Zambia have had no regrets so far.
Mrs Aust said Zambia’s peace and progressive policies are conducive for investment in any sector, including health.