THE Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, has ordered an investigation of medical personnel at Mafia District Hospital who own pharmacies around the hospital premises.
The premier’s directive follows his
visit at the facility yesterday, where he learnt that there were several
drug outlets owned by health workers around the hospital premises while
the government had ordered the closure of such shops.
He directed the Coast Regional Medical
Officer, Dr Beatrice Byalugaba, to investigate medical personnel who own
the outlets and take appropriate action against them. The PM’s visit to
the hospital was part of his official tour of Mafia District.
He, however, directed Dr Byalugaba to
find out the type of diseases affecting most of the residents in the
district so that the government can place an order of enough medicine
for the patients to curb the shortage.
Mr Majaliwa also called upon the
hospital workers to serve the patients better despite being a few to
minimise complaints. Meanwhile, Mr Majaliwa has encouraged Mafia
residents to join the Community Health Fund (CHF) in order to be assured
of their treatment for a period of one year.
Earlier, the District Medical Officer,
Dr Joseph Mziba, said that response by the people to join the CHF was
still low, which affected access to health services in the district.
According to him, only 6,000 people out of 50,000 have joined the
scheme.
The Mafia District Executive Director,
Mr Eric Mapunda, called upon the government to allow the local
government entity to purchase medicines, which they do not get from the
Medical Store Department (MSD) direct from the market without following
procurement procedures. "Some time we don't get the medicines from MSD
and therefore, we are forced to buy from the agents through.
We are forced to pay 20,000/- for one
box of ‘Panadol’ while when we buy the same box direct from the market,
we pay only 8,000/-," he revealed.
In another development, Mr Majaliwa has
urged public servants in the country to be ready to work at any area
where they will be assigned by the government depending on the needs of
the respective area.
He said one of the duties of a public
servant is to serve Tanzanians at any part of the country in order to
promote development and anyone who will fail should look for another job
outside the government system.
The premier was speaking on Friday when
addressing a rally at Mkunguni Grounds in Mafia. He said the Fifth Phase
Government has directed efforts in serving people by addressing their
challenges and would thus ensure that its commitment is implemented
responsibly by every public servant.
Mr Majaliwa noted that every
government’s phase has its strategy and hence public servants were also
required to change and work according to the interests of the government
in power.
“This government’s phase has focused
more on work, hence President John Magufuli’s slogan ‘Hapa Kazi Tu’ (We
are here to work) encourages people to work hard,” Mr Majaliwa
explained.
In November, last year, Dr Magufuli paid
an impromptu visit to Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es
Salaam where, among other things, he ordered the closure of drug shops
around the hospital’s premises, directing the MSD to open a community
outlet within the hospital’s premises.
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