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Business and financial news channel Millennium TV hosted the Dean of Medicine at Texila American University, Dr. Lawson Simapuka, discussing various topics related to Zambia’s access to healthcare. The discussion started with the estimated cost of accessing health facilities to access healthcare in rural areas. Dr. Simapuka provides insights on how healthcare works in Zambia and how the overall accessibility of healthcare and related expenses can be managed across Zambia upon the host’s inquiry.
The host, Ms. Constance Mwezi Namwinga, follows up with a question on developmental challenges faced by the Zambian health ministry’s holistic healthcare reform approach, particularly on the brain drain phenomenon. She also questions the root factor that prompts medical professionals to move to urban areas.
To which, Dr. Simapuka also explains in great detail the various challenges faced by Zambia’s healthcare sector. He touches on financial and environmental issues and how mental and physical factors such as the lack of access to medical resources and equipment affect professionals and cause them to look toward greener pastures, thus causing a brain drain in the Zambian medical industry.
The host, Ms.Namwinga, also raises interesting questions on the pandemic’s toll on the Zambian economy, which inadvertently affects the nation’s health sector. Dr. Simapuka explains how the economy and the health sector are co-dependent and how the COVID-19 has impacted that delicate balance and how it affects the healthcare provided to Zambia citizens.
The short but fruitful interview with Dr. Lawson Simapuka provides excellent insights into Zambia’s access to healthcare and its evolution over the years.
