Mpinganjira urges universal health coverage fast-track
Business mogul Thomson Mpinganira has asked government to speed up implementation of universal health coverage in the country to enable poor Malawians access improved health services.
Mpinganjira, who is group chief executive officer for FDH Financial Holdings Limited, said this in Mangochi on Friday at the opening of the 8th Annual Scientific and Medical Conference for Society of Medical Doctors (SMD) held under the theme Towards Achieving
Universal Health Coverage in Malawi: Progress, Trends and New Strategy.
improved health services due to poverty
In an interview later, he stressed that Malawi should implement universal health coverage to redeem poor lives from health threats.
Said Mpinganjira: “The majority of the people in the country have no access to improved health services due to poverty. The only remedy to help those people is to have this system because it captures everybody in society to get medical help.”
He said it was sad to note that many people in the country are dying from curable or treatable illnesses.
Observed Mpinganjira: “It is only the few elite and maybe famous people after appealing in the newspapers who go abroad to get better services when they are sick.
“But look at the majority of poor Malawians! Do they have an access to health services? Hence, there is a need for government to really fast-track it.”
He also emphasised the need for doctors to be trained in financialmanagement and general management to assist them in their daily endeavors, observing that doctors, especially district health officers (DHOs), handle administrative or financial matters in their work places.
In his remarks, SMD president Amosi Nyaka said the meeting was important because it created space where health pundits met to discuss and find solutions to challenges raping the delivery of healthcare in the country.
On his part, Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Dan Namarika said efforts to make healthcare coverage universal in the country are underway; hence, he pleaded with non-governmental organisations (NGO) implementing health programmes in the country to partner with government to make universal health coverage a reality.
