‘Fix percentage of budget assigned to paying medical professionals’

Herald Reporter 

Doctors want to see a fixed percentage of the budget assigned to paying medical professionals as part of the amendments to the Health Services Act.

Discussing the Health Services Amendment Bill now before Parliament with the Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care, representatives of doctors with support of the Southern Africa Parliamentary Support Trust want the payment of doctors and other professionals fixed.

The Bill was gazetted last year and seeks to align the Health Services Act with the Constitution and will also outlaw industrial action by health workers lasting more than three days. The Health Services Board would be upgraded to a commission if the measure passes.

Representatives from the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, Senior Doctors Association and the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights appeared before the committee where they raised reservations with some provisions of the Bill.

Dr Norman Matara, the secretary general for the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights said the health sector had been characterised by high staff turnover and required resources to tame the tide.

“We believe there should be a pre-determined percentage in the budget for health services in the national budget to cater for the health workers’ welfare and resources,” he said.

While supportive of the upgrade of the board to a commission he want the envisaged Health Services Commission to be independent and Constitutional like other independent commissions created by the Constitution.

Senior Doctors Association representative Dr Shingai Nyaguse echoed similar sentiments and called on Government to further consult health sector employees before the Bill is passed into law. Health professionals should have an input in the establishment of the envisaged Health Services Commission. 

Outgoing Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association president Dr Tawanda Zvakada said the brain drain affecting the health sector was unlikely to end if the bill was passed in the current form.