‘Report health personnel malpractices’

Herald Reporter
The public should not hesitate to report any complaints against doctors, nurses or any other health professional within a health institution, an official with the Health Professions Authority has said. Responding to an article by this publication recently that a number of health professionals had been fingered in serious malpractice, HPA secretary general and chief executive officer Mr Sherphard Humure said this was the only way authorities could stamp out maltreatment of patients in healthcare institutions.

He said if cases were reported as they occurred and if complainants realised that there was actually action taken after reports were filed, patient care was likely to improve in healthcare institutions.

“We have cases of nurses who are arrogant to patients and we want the public to come to us with such details so that we refer them to the relevant councils for action,” said Mr Humure.

He reiterated that the appeal mechanism was open to the patients up to Supreme Court level. “If patients are not satisfied with how a council handled their case, the patients can appeal to the HPA free of charge because we are a statutory body that also looks after patients’ rights and interests in the healthcare delivery system,” he said.

Mr Humure said the HPA was working on a directory of all registered health practitioners in Zimbabwe.