From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ZAMBIA: LEADING HOSPITAL NEEDS URGENT ''TREATMENT''
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 01:43:54 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ZAMBIA: LEADING HOSPITAL NEEDS URGENT ''TREATMENT''


an inter press service feature

by katongo chisupa

lusaka, sep 22 (ips) -- when the ruling movement for multi-party
democracy (mmd) campaigned to wrest power from the government of
president kenneth kaunda, health was one of its rallying points.

almost a year later, the mmd and president frederick chiluba
are finding out that promises made on the campaign track in
october 1991 are not easy to deliver once in power.

the crisis facing the health sector is reflected by the state
of affairs at university of zambia teaching hospital (uth) in
the heart of this zambian capital.

opened by kaunda in 1969, the uth was designed to operate as
a referral hospital and a training institution for university of
zambia (unza) medical students.

for years congestion, a shortage of doctors and lack of
equipment have been some of the perenial problems nagging the
hospital, which serves the capital's 1.2 million inhabitants.

the sheer numbers of people at the hospital -- from patients
lying on benches in the admissions ward waiting for a bed or a
matress on the floor, to visiting relatives -- hampers the work
of the doctors.

''it's like at a soccer match. there are too many
visitors and the working atmosphere for doctors and other
hospital staff becomes extremely difficult'', one junior doctor
angrily told ips.

overcrowding in the wards, worsened by the absence of
alternative hospitals in the capital, has contributed to the
falling nursing and medical standards, says medical sources.

medical experts believe it is a major contributing factor to
the high infant mortality rate.

daily deaths at the uth, built for 1,600 patients, is as high
as 30 per day. in some cases, children admitted at the hospital
die within the first 12 hours because of lack of drugs and other
essential facilities.

''tell dr kawimbe (health minister boniface kawimbe) to buy
better linen for our children in the baby nurseries (at the
hospital) and not those old and blood stained clothes they are
wrapped in when they are born'', an angry mother of two told ips
when asked to comment on the conditions at the uth. (more/ips)


zambia: leading (2)

critics point out that one of the uth's major problems is
that it runs like a parastatal which, like all other state-owned
firms in zambia, was characterised by maladministration and
corruption.

past suggestions to operate uth purely as a referral and
teaching hospital have been ignored by the government.

two years ago a team of experts then recommended closure of
the uth as an institution for internship for medical students.
that recommendation was also dropped by the government.

the hospital is administered by three bodies -- the
university of zambia school of medicine, the uth board of
directors and the ministry of health. critics say this creates
unnecessary bureaucracy and complicates things.

brain drain, which has rocked zambia for many years, has not
spared the uth. the flight of experienced doctors to
neighbouring countries, including south africa and namibia, has
sometimes prompted the uth to use students to attend to serious
cases.

the hospital should have a compliment of 232 doctors. but the
exodus has left the hospital with only 144 doctors -- 131 senior
and 13 junior doctors.

the doctors are leaving for greener pastures. a net salary
for a junior doctor at the uth is about 15,000 kwacha ( 83
dollars) a month, with a call allowance of 1,000 kwacha (5.5
dollars). they can be on call sometimes for 24 hours.

an average doctor attends to between 100-150 patients a day.

despite the problems at zambia's leading hospital, some
doctors are optimistic things will change for the better.

''i am a very patriotic zambian and i'm not going to leave
this country. i will be here and work from here'', says dr hicks
tembo.

''things seem to have improved since the mmd came to power.
here at the hospital, we have slightly more drugs than last
year'', admits one senior doctor who does not wish to be named.
''but the situation is far from being very good''.
(end/ips/kc/apc/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african