MoH SHAMBLES

We are not given to fabricating stories.

On the rare occasion we get it wrong, apologies and amends have been rendered in good time.

Therefore, we do not take kindly to the vilification from the shambles of the Ministry of Health suggesting that we have a malicious campaign and vendetta against the ministry’s leadership.

It is as if lives lost due to sheer incompetence count for nothing. 

First, the entire procurement section of the ministry was disbanded, losing critical institutional competence resulting in the drug crisis the country is facing.

The ministry is both deceptive, cynical and inhuman. Staging false media stunts, faking drug availability. This deception is evil. 

Three Permanent Secretaries later, the situation is even more dire.

Now a systematic purge of senior professionals has been launched without any regard to the qualification of the officers involved and their contribution to the sections in which they are serving.

The first purge was in the name of corruption eradication. It is not for a rocket scientist to conclude what the new purge is about.

Like everything else at the ministry, nothing is transparent, ethical nor indeed in line with Government procedure. It is all political.

What is now even more distressing is the Egyptian debacle that defies logic and is totally irregular, without any semblance of following Government procurement procedures, all in the name of health emergency. What emergency?

If executed, it will take another six months or more to land the medication in Zambia.  

Such medication will also require validation and approval, a process that will take even more time and at what cost, considering that we had a functioning supply chain?

The Egyptian government does not manufacture medicine and neither does the Unified Procurement Authority of Egypt, to which we have sent a hundred-plus page shopping list for drugs complete with prices. 

This organisation, formally established in 2020, is a centralised procurement and supply interface, which aims to ensure equitable access of medicinal and health technology products through conducting evidence-based technology assessments, value driven procurement methods and establishing a robust and sustainable supply chain for Egypt and not Zambia.

We have our own Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority to undertake these tasks.

Integrity and ethics are critical components of public policy and appointments as they ensure that individuals selected to implement public policy are trustworthy, accountable, and committed to acting in the best interests of the public.

Serving public interest transcend personal and political consideration. Public institutions maintain the trust of the public they serve. Indeed, ethical conduct and integrity are vital for building and maintaining trust between the government and the public.

For all intent and purposes, the Ministry of Health has lost this trust. 

The lack of medicines, broken down diagnostic equipment and sheer incompetence has eroded any trust the public held in the ministry.

Most importantly, professional appointments are supposed to be on the basis of merit and competence. There is no room for political gamesmanship.