Parliament takes Zimbabwe health Minister to task- full Q & A

Zimbabwe Health Minister Obadiah Moyo was yesterday taken to task by Parliament on why pharmacies were charging clients in United States dollars when they were being allocated foreign currency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe which insisted that the bond note and the USD were at par.

Binga North legislator Prince Sibanda said some of the pharmacies were importing drugs for as little as 68 US cents but reselling those drugs at $12.

Below is the full Q &A

HON. TSUNGA: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care. What measures are in place within the Ministry to make sure that access to health care by every citizen is achieved noting the lassez faire approach adopted by those tasked to facilitate the operationalisation of new health facilities in the outlying areas?

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. O. MOYO): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. That is a very pertinent question and we would like to ensure that we have as many health facilities around the country. As I have indicated before, in each and every constituency, we want to see Hon. Members and Senators coming forward giving us the guidelines as to where they would like facilities to be created. We have to move with primary health care and primary health care starts at the village level. We want to have a health post at the village level and we want to have rural health centres as the next level, followed by the district hospital level, provincial hospital  and then the quaternary or tertiary institutions. We all have to work towards achieving universal health coverage which means we want each and every member of our society to be able to access free medical care.

Everybody has that right and it is entirely up to us. My Ministry together with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Services; we will be working towards finalisation of the National Health Insurance Scheme which will come to this august House for approval because we want to make sure that everybody has access to free medical care.

Likewise, as we create adherence health institutions, we will be making sure that each and every institution follows the laid down regulations. My Ministry has got all the regulations which state the metres that are required for each and every facility, whether it is the number of toilets, reception, everything is noted in there. We have those Statutory Instruments in place which guide us as to how we can create our clinics. Every Member of Parliament has got access to that information.

I want to point out further that access to health and affordability is a right of all Zimbabweans. We need to ensure that everybody gets the licencing done in the appropriate manner. We cannot go down on standards unfortunately. We have to follow standards. Everybody will have to comply with the laid down standards, protocols and be able to come up with a health system that is relevant.

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