VICE President Constantino Chiwenga yesterday dismissed a petition by the Retail Pharmacists Association (RPA) in which they asked Parliament to amend the Public Health Act and allow all health professionals to be considered for top government posts.
Speaking before the parliamentary portfolio committee on Health yesterday, Chiwenga, who is also Health minister, said the association was offside.
“The ministry’s position is that the petitioners have misdirected themselves and further exposed their lack of understanding of the technical and legal framework that governs the appointment of posts of permanent secretary, provincial and district health officers.
“In this regard, we recommend that they be referred to the ministry of Health and Child Care to be assisted in understanding the technical basis and legal framework that govern the said posts,” Chiwenga said.
He said the Health Professions Act recognises all health professionals and categorises them according to how they have been trained and certified to practice their calling.
“The Health Service Board implements the provisions of the Act as it is responsible for recruiting all posts from deputy directors to chief directors.
“The recruitment procedure is competitive to satisfy the constitutional and statutory requirements of that appointment based on merit.
“The petitioners appear not to be aware that the Public Health Act is only one of many pieces of legislation governing the health care system, at least from their presentation, and is not the legislation that governs the appointment of a permanent secretary or the appointment of provincial and district health officers.
“There is a directorate of pharmacy at head office, headed by a director, who reports to the chief director curative services. The provincial pharmacists report to the provincial medical director, while the district pharmacists report to the district medical officer,” Chiwenga added.
In March this year, RPA chairperson Joselyn Chaibva appeared before the same committee to give oral evidence on their proposal for the amendment of the Public Health Act.
She blasted the Act saying it only allows medical doctors to be considered for administrative posts in the Health ministry.
“When the Health Professionals Act was enacted, it only covered medical practitioners and dentists, before pharmacists were roped in and then all other health professionals.
“We also acknowledge the important role that health professionals play in the healthcare delivery system where we have clinicians who have strong clinical roles that cannot be underestimated
“We have participated and contributed our views on the Public Health Bill of 2017, but we noted that some of our contributions fell by the wayside and our contributions were not included in the final Act,” Chaibva said.