HEALTH Workers Union of Zambia (HWUZ) general secretary Lewis Mukosha yesterday said the US $53 million concessional loan government got from China will haunt President Rupiah Banda and the ministers involved someday.

And Mukosha has cautioned President Banda and his ministers to stop thinking that the MMD would be in power forever.

In an interview, Mukosha said the biggest challenge facing Zambia was government’s lack of consultation and failure to respect people’s views. He said the US $53 million that government recently borrowed from China was not necessary.

Mukosha said it was morally wrong for President Banda’s government to borrow huge sums of money from China when there was a public outcry from the general citizenry that the mobile hospitals were not conducive for the Zambian health system.

“It’s very sad that the President can have the audacity to tell the people who elected him into office that the procurement of mobile hospitals is none of their business. Honestly, where is morality here? Are we governed by the right people? Zambians expect Banda to demonstrate true leadership; otherwise this concessional loan will haunt him and his ministers someday,” Mukosha said.

He said government needed to put its priorities right because the US $53 million was sufficient to build a considerable number of permanent health centres and hospitals.

Mukosha said people in rural areas were in need of permanent health structures and not mobile hospitals. He said it was unfair for the government to decide to give the poor majority piecemeal health services through mobile hospitals.

Mukosha added that the MMD government needed to put its policies right and offer the nation long-term objectives that would positively affect the future generation.

“The health infrastructures that we see around were built by leaders who had long-term objectives in the health sector for the common good of Zambians and the future generation. The people in the current government must ask themselves: 'what is it that the people of Zambia will remember us for?

Is it mobile hospitals that will disappear after sometime or permanent structures?' I implore them to consult and to come up with developmental initiatives that would even benefit the future generation,” Mukosha said.

Mukosha said President Banda’s government was expected to demonstrate morality in governance by listening to the voice of the people on matters that affect them, especially in the health sector.

The HWUZ consists nurses, doctors, clinical officers pharmacists, lab technicians and all supporting staff.
The membership currently stands at 8,000.

On Tuesday, the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) said the mobile hospitals were not a solution to the country’s problems in the health sector.

Last year, donors, civil society organisations and various stakeholders opposed the procurement of mobile hospitals.