HON. CHIMANIKIRE: I would like the Minister to explain what he means by training enough doctors when actually our current ratio is one doctor….
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Members. You are no longer whispering but you are making noise.
HON. CHIMANIKIRE: If we have the ratio of one doctor to every 250 000 patients, can he qualify what he means by saying we are currently training enough doctors. Does he have figures and when those doctors graduate what is the time period – do we expect them to actually fill in those posts that will be able to give us a ratio of three doctors to 1000?
HON. MUSIIWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member for asking that question. Actually, in terms of training, we are currently graduating about 360 doctors every year and the problem then comes with retention. Once we have graduated these doctors and deployed them in the system, we are losing a lot of doctors both to the region…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Address the Chair Hon. Minister.
HON. MUSIIWA: … both to the region and internationally.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, address the Chair.
HON. MUSIIWA: Although the replacement rate is okay, we are not retaining enough doctors in the country. So, until we have enough money in Treasury to create more posts, it is going to take some time until we reach the required ratio. Thank you.
HON. CHIMANIKIRE: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Once every two years Hon. Speaker, we have junior doctors going on strike because of conditions of service and the last strike was less than 18 months ago. Can the Minister inform the nation as to what steps they have taken to improve the conditions of service of junior doctors that are under training? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. DR. MUSIIWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member for asking the question. It is an issue of great concern when we lose trained and qualified staff. However, it is a situation pertaining across the board in the country. At the moment, our salaries compared to those that pertain in the region and abroad are much lower. Until our economic situation improves, it is going to be very difficult. However, what we have done as a Ministry is, in respect of junior doctors, we have provided accommodation within the institutions which they work on at lower rates. We have also allowed them vehicle loans as a way of retaining them. As to the salaries that we can give them, that is an issue of Treasury. I thank you.
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