By STEVEN ZANDE –
.Chilufya
HEALTH Minister Chitalu Chilufya has said construction of the K170 million National Health Training Institute (NHTI), which is expected to be completed in March next year, will strengthen health personnel training and help actualise Government’s goal of attaining universal healthcare.
Dr Chilufya said works at the facility were 90 per cent done and that by March 2018, the institution was expected to enrol first-year students in various health disciplines. This would help cushion the deficit of health workers in health facilities.
“This is a game changer. Government under the Patriotic Front (PF) has intentions and is firmly putting in place universal healthcare by fixing the human capital to realise this goal,” the minister said.
He said this in Lusaka yesterday when he undertook a site visit of the facility in the company of Permanent Secretary in the Vice-President’s office Stephen Mwansa.
Dr Chilufya said Government was determined to ensure that practical steps were taken so that healthcare training could feed into health institutions to ensure citizens had access to quality healthcare services closer to their homes.
The minister said Zambia’s democratic credentials and the country’s central location would help the nation attract more international students, thereby helping turn the country into a centre of excellence in healthcare training.
Dr Chilufya said the Government prioritised education and had engaged Chinese consultants who would help train existing faculty members who would handle the NHTI when it began operations in March next year.
The state-of-the-art facility comprises a number of lecture theatres, laboratories and peripheral buildings that facilitate an effective learning environment.
Dr Chilufya later undertook a site visit of the Levy Hospital where expansion works on the 850-bed capacity facility have progressed and he expressed satisfaction with the pace and quality of the works.
He told journalists that due to existing Zambia-China friendship, doctors had been sent to China to undergo further training for them to adequately handle the services that would be provided at the expanded hospital.
