Tanzania: Govt Warns of Truant Health Practitioners

By Daily News Reporter in Dodoma

The government has warned health practitioners that their repeated absence from work will make them lose their jobs and their positions will be filled by new employees.

The government has also directed health practitioners to observe professionalism and accountability

to increase service delivery in the workplace.

This was said by Permanent Secretary in the President's Office (Regional Administration and Local Government responsible for health), Dr Dorothy Gwajima, during a validation workshop with stakeholders in the health sector.

The workshop was organised by Global Affairs Canada and its main objective was to enhance accountability in improving reproductive, maternal and newborn health in underserved areas of Tanzania. It also intended to focus on success and lessons learnt in fostering accountability because Global Affairs Canada, in partnership with the government of Tanzania, has been implementing various projects, including investing in reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health in the country.

Speaking during the workshop, Dr Gwajima stressed the need for accountability in the health sector especially in administration and human resources.

According to her, all staff in the health sector are assessed according to their performance and accountability.

"We want everyone to discharge one's duties by observing accountability because already the government has put appropriate infrastructure at all health facilities, medicine and equipment," she noted.

Speaking at the event, Minister-Counsellor (Development) and Cooperation from the High Commission of Canada, Gwen Walmsley said Tanzania's health sector was very important that was why 60 per cent of the funds from Canada every year were channelled through Health Basket Fund (HBF).

HBF is a funding mechanism initiated in1999 as part of the government's decision to pursue a sector wide approach in the health sector.

It is funded by a number of development agencies that pool un-earmarked resources to support the implementation of the health sector strategic plan.

At present, there are eight development partners contributing to HBF which include Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, UNFPA, Unicef and the World Bank.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by all parties, set out the roles and responsibilities between development partners and the government in supporting the basket mechanism.

Also in attendance was Amref Health Africa Tanzania Resident Director, Dr Florence Temu, who also stressed the need for accountability in the health sector.

According to her, in collaboration with Jhpiego, her organisation has had several projects to reduce maternal deaths.

Currently, Amref Health Africa Tanzania has at least 25 active projects across different regions in Tanzania (over 45 per cent of the projects are located in the Lake Zone).