Government in partnership with a
global health education organisation has introduced the first ever special
training programme to address the critical shortage of trained biomedical
engineering professionals in the country.
In a statement to ZANIS in
Lusaka, Health minister Joseph Kasonde said the Biomedical Engineering
Technologist (BMET) is a 3 year technologist diploma which will be offered at
Northern Technical College (NORTEC) and has been tailored to address specific
needs of Zambian hospitals.
Dr. Kasonde said Zambia is in
urgent need of qualified biomedical engineering professionals to manage and
maintain medical equipment adding that this programme is critical for life and
cost saving benefits to the nation.
He said the poor state of medical
equipment in most low and middle income countries has continued to affect the
quality of essential medical service delivery.
He further anticipated that the
initiative which is one of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa will be influential
in shaping the future of biomedical engineering technologist training in other
parts of the continent.
He said the initiative comes
after a joint assessment by the Ministry of Health and the Tropical Health and
Education Trust (THET) in six government hospitals in may 2011 found
insufficient medical equipment, inadequate numbers of maintenance staff and
about 35 percent of existing equipment not working.
And Chairman of the Zambia United
Kingdom Workforce Health Alliance Lord Nigel Crisp said the quality and
efficiency of medical services is not only dependant on availability of
appropriate medical equipment but also on qualified personnel.
Lord Crisp added that the
initiative is an example of what can be done to address this challenge in an
innovative and collaborative way.
ZANIS
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