Social health insurance  law on cards

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 11:46:04 +0000

A SOCIAL health insurance law is on the cards as Government has plans to introduce a social health insurance Bill in Parliament next year meant to guarantee the social health of citizens.

Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya said the policy once approved by Parliament would give people access to good health care.

Dr Chilufya said the insurance policy was expected to be a nationwide programme and once implemented would help people access good health care as and when they needed it.

Dr Chilufya explained that most people in the country faced a lot of challenges to get health services due to lack of money.

“It is not uncommon for people to go and borrow money for them to be operated on in the event that they have cancer or any serious disease that would require surgery. And often times, the vulnerable and poor people do not have money when they have complicated ailments that would call for operations and this in turn affects them negatively as in most cases they have to pay back with interest,” Dr Chilufya said.

Dr. Chilufya stated that for a country to attain economic development, there was urgent need to invest in the health sector because the mantra of a health nation being a wealthy nation was correct.

“As Government we have decided to invest in the health of the people by strengthening health systems and ensuring access to proper health services to all Zambians to enhance productivity. Government has recently employed health workers to help reduce the patient- doctor ratio and ensure that health care which is a human right is accessed by all,” Dr Chilufya said.

He said that the social health insurance policy was being formulated by ensuring that hospitals around the country had adequate human resource and stocked with medications.

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