Despite the lack of doctors and nurses, clinics in rural areas in Zambia have started offering free health care starting this week, thanks to savings that have come through debt relief but the clinics have been overwhelmed by the demand, BBC Online reports Friday..
Nurses are dealing with ever-increasing numbers of patients. In Kafue district, there are only seven doctors for a population of more than 250.000, says Dr Mwila Kaunda Lembalemba, who is in charge of health services in the district.
Most Zambians, particularly those in the countryside, are still unaware that they can now seek free health care. Only 300 meters from Kafue hospital, a teenage mother who was harvesting maize knew nothing about free treatment.
But others do know. – Turnout has been exceptional since Monday – it is people who were not coming before because they had no means of paying: often it is the poorest of the poor, Dr Safare of Kafue hospital said.
– We risk becoming overwhelmed as soon as everyone in the countryside learns that it is already free, Dr Safare says.
But Dr Lembalemba does not share these worries, pointing to measures taken by the government in the last few years, either to keep health workers in the profession, or to recruit new staff.
Yet the figures do not encourage optimism. In a country that is home to 11 million people, there are only 600 doctors, 24 pharmacists and not a single psychiatrist.
In July last year, Zambia secured 4 billion US dollar (24,8 milliarder DKR) in debt relief during the G8 summit at Gleneagles in the United Kingdom.
