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Mukudzei Chingwere recently in Victoria Falls
Government says it has managed to unify the health services to pull in one direction in its quest to promote the quality of life of the people of Zimbabwe by guaranteeing universal health coverage of sufficient quality for all.
This is happening at a time Zimbabwe has won plaudits from the World Health Organisation and other countries for an effective response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, and an insistence by the Government that it was willing to improve the quality of healthcare system in the country.
Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga last week held a three-day interface with stakeholders in the health sector to share the Government’s vision for the sector as well as encourage a collaborative approach to improve the health system.
Participants were drawn from parastatals in the ministry, health councils, trainers, heads of health institutions, representatives of civil servants in the health sector from district level up to the head office as well as those providing traditional medicines.
Other entities who also work with health workers like the Ministries of Finance and Economic Development, Local Government and Public Works were invited as well as the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission and the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe among others.
Speaking to the media after the interface, VP Chiwenga said the exchange has succeeded in rallying together those tasked or called to safeguard the health of individuals or populations.
“It was a very encouraging conference, the first of its kind in the Ministry of Health and Child Care in that we have managed to come together. To understand the role of each department, and what I have understood is that we need to do these more often on yearly basis so that we put this body together.”
He said such interactions destroys the reluctance to share information with employees of different divisions in the same health system.
“It was like these parastatals, working one is from another ministry or one is from another country, yet they were all in the same ministry.
“So these are the silos I think have been a major achievement to break, so they can now understand that they are one body, and there is none among them who is more important than the other,” emphasised VP Chiwenga.
“But as one we will save the people of Zimbabwe, we will save our citizenry and provide all the services which are required.
“In other words we will be able to fulfil our mandate because those silos which had no connection we have made the connection,” said VP Chiwenga.
He implored the sector not to despair but to be stronger and able to find solutions in the face of challenges bedevilling workers.
“It is my honest belief that for us to come up with sustainable solutions to the challenges in the health sector we need to share the same vision and have one strategic direction under the guidance of our blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1(2021-2025).”
VP Chiwenga said the vision of the health ministry was to have the highest possible level of healthcare and quality of life for all citizens and permanent residents of Zimbabwe by 2030.
He said, “the goal is to improve the quality of life of our citizens. This will be achieved through hard work, dedication to duty, honesty, professionalism, transparency, upholding good corporate governance and ethics as well as zero tolerance to corruption.
“Health delivery, unlike other services, is very sensitive and used as a measure of Government performance towards service delivery,” said VP Chiwenga.
He said those in the health sector are duty bound to quickly fix ethics and improve quality of service in accordance with the dictates of their calling.
Online Reporter