News / Health
Parly committee to grill minister over state of hospitals
13 Mar 2014 at 15:31hrs | Views
Parliament plans to quiz Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa on the state of hospitals in the with a view to find ways of improving service delivery, an official said on Wednesday.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care chairperson Ruth Labode said there was urgent need to address challenges such as unaffordability of blood at Central Hospitals to reduce the number of people dying from preventable conditions.
According to New Ziana, during a tour of Harare Hospital facilities the committee found that patients who could not afford a pint of blood at $200 were dying.
Labode said service delivery was at its lowest at Harare Hospital and it was likely that the same might be happening at other health institutions.
"As a committee we are coming up with a report that we will send back to Harare Hospital. But we are also planning to move a motion in Parliament and then give the report over to the minister," she said.
Labode said the committee feels there is need for the minister to appear before it to answer to some issues relating to affordability of blood to patients in need.
"There are issues that we feel the minister should answer so we will summon him before our committee."
"There are issues in particular the blood coupon system being given to rural hospitals yet people who get referred to central hospitals are in need of the same blood," she said.
Labode said the Government should in future increase budgetary allocation to the health sector adding that the country could not develop when the population was in poor health.
"The difficulties facing the health sector are not insurmountable."
The provision of quality health is key to the overall well-being of the people of Zimbabwe.
"There is need for at least 15 percent of the national budget to be spent on health," she added.
In the 2014 budget, the health sector got around $330 million which translates to eight percent, lower than the stipulations of the Abuja declaration of 15 percent.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care chairperson Ruth Labode said there was urgent need to address challenges such as unaffordability of blood at Central Hospitals to reduce the number of people dying from preventable conditions.
According to New Ziana, during a tour of Harare Hospital facilities the committee found that patients who could not afford a pint of blood at $200 were dying.
Labode said service delivery was at its lowest at Harare Hospital and it was likely that the same might be happening at other health institutions.
"As a committee we are coming up with a report that we will send back to Harare Hospital. But we are also planning to move a motion in Parliament and then give the report over to the minister," she said.
Labode said the committee feels there is need for the minister to appear before it to answer to some issues relating to affordability of blood to patients in need.
"There are issues that we feel the minister should answer so we will summon him before our committee."
"There are issues in particular the blood coupon system being given to rural hospitals yet people who get referred to central hospitals are in need of the same blood," she said.
Labode said the Government should in future increase budgetary allocation to the health sector adding that the country could not develop when the population was in poor health.
"The difficulties facing the health sector are not insurmountable."
The provision of quality health is key to the overall well-being of the people of Zimbabwe.
"There is need for at least 15 percent of the national budget to be spent on health," she added.
In the 2014 budget, the health sector got around $330 million which translates to eight percent, lower than the stipulations of the Abuja declaration of 15 percent.
Source - New Ziana
