The premier’s directive follows his visit at the facility yesterday, where he learnt that there were several drug outlets owned by health workers around the hospital premises while the government had ordered the closure of such shops.
He directed the Coast Regional Medical Officer, Dr Beatrice Byalugaba, to investigate medical personnel who own the outlets and take appropriate action against them. The PM’s visit to the hospital was part of his official tour of Mafia District.
He, however, directed Dr Byalugaba to find out the type of diseases affecting most of the residents in the district so that the government can place an order of enough medicine for the patients to curb the shortage.
Mr Majaliwa also called upon the hospital workers to serve the patients better despite being a few to minimise complaints. Meanwhile, Mr Majaliwa has encouraged Mafia residents to join the Community Health Fund (CHF) in order to be assured of their treatment for a period of one year.
Earlier, the District Medical Officer, Dr Joseph Mziba, said that response by the people to join the CHF was still low, which affected access to health services in the district. According to him, only 6,000 people out of 50,000 have joined the scheme.
The Mafia District Executive Director, Mr Eric Mapunda, called upon the government to allow the local government entity to purchase medicines, which they do not get from the Medical Store Department (MSD) direct from the market without following procurement procedures. "Some time we don't get the medicines from MSD and therefore, we are forced to buy from the agents through.
We are forced to pay 20,000/- for one box of ‘Panadol’ while when we buy the same box direct from the market, we pay only 8,000/-," he revealed.
In another development, Mr Majaliwa has urged public servants in the country to be ready to work at any area where they will be assigned by the government depending on the needs of the respective area.
He said one of the duties of a public servant is to serve Tanzanians at any part of the country in order to promote development and anyone who will fail should look for another job outside the government system.
The premier was speaking on Friday when addressing a rally at Mkunguni Grounds in Mafia. He said the Fifth Phase Government has directed efforts in serving people by addressing their challenges and would thus ensure that its commitment is implemented responsibly by every public servant.
Mr Majaliwa noted that every government’s phase has its strategy and hence public servants were also required to change and work according to the interests of the government in power.
“This government’s phase has focused more on work, hence President John Magufuli’s slogan ‘Hapa Kazi Tu’ (We are here to work) encourages people to work hard,” Mr Majaliwa explained.
In November, last year, Dr Magufuli paid an impromptu visit to Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam where, among other things, he ordered the closure of drug shops around the hospital’s premises, directing the MSD to open a community outlet within the hospital’s premises.
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