Health services overhaul on the cards

by | Mar 31, 2021 | COVID 19, Local News | 0 comments

Mako Jerera

Cabinet yesterday adopted the Ministry of Health and Child Care five year plan which aims to improve the quality of health services in the country.

Cabinet has agreed to coordinate efforts to ensure that the Ministry of Health and Child Care gives equitable, accessible, affordable and acceptable quality health services and care to Zimbabweans.

Addressing the media during a post-cabinet briefing yesterday, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said there will be an increase in the domestic funding for health.

According to Minister Mutsvangwa, the Ministry’s focus will be on increasing domestic funding for health; improving human resource performance in the health sector; increasing access to water, sanitation and healthy environment; improving access to availability of essential medicines; and reducing morbidity and mortality from communicable and non-communicable diseases.
“Some key projects to be implemented will entail establishment of the Health Services Commission and a National Health Insurance Scheme; and increasing the client satisfaction index and the general service readiness index by 79 percent and 90 percent by 2025, respectively,” Minister Mutsvangwa said.

Government will also be moving to ensure there are adequate facilities, across all provinces.

“The number of secondary (district) level health institutions with functional theatres is envisaged to increase from 43 percent in 2020 to 99 percent in 2025, while hospitals with tracer equipment will increase from 20 percent to 82 percent during the same period. Use of traditional medicines will also be prioritised,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

Meanwhile, Cabinet received an update on the country’s response to the COVID-19 Outbreak, which was presented by the Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs as Chairman of the Task Force on the country’s response to the COVID-19 Outbreak.

With regard to vaccines, the uptake of the Sinopharm vaccine has increased significantly, following the launch of Phase 2 by President Mnangagwa in Victoria Falls on March 24 2021.