.President Lungu

By JOSEPH BANDA –
PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has signed into law the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill aimed at providing equitable and quality healthcare for all.Through the NHI Act, no Zambian will have to suffer to access healthcare because they will have health insurance cover as promised by the Patriotic Front (PF) during campaigns for elections.
According to a statement issued by special assistant to the president for press and public relations Amos Chanda the President signed the bill on April 25 bringing into force one of the PF’s most significant socio-economic reforms since it took power in 2011.
He said the Act also actualized the country’s long held aspiration to provide quality universal healthcare.
“Zambians have yearned for a robust, equitable and quality healthcare system that ensures equality for all without imposing high financial costs on citizens. The healthcare reforms we have embarked on through this Act are aimed at achieving the dream this country has held for the past 54 years,” the President said.
He said since independence, successive governments had sought to provide universal access to quality healthcare but had been hampered by a lack of health insurance, which stood at five per cent currently.
He said despite the opposition from some quarters when the bill was proposed to Parliament in 2017, the NHI Act was now in force and everyone must work towards the full implementation of the law so that the 95 per cent of Zambians also have health insurance cover.
Mr Lungu said that the NHI law could no longer be viewed with partisan lenses because it was about the promotion of life over illness.
The law is about social justice because it brings about unprecedented equity in the provision of healthcare and it is an important moment not just for those in the PF but for all Zambians.
He said the attainment of universal health coverage was the lighthouse that was guiding the PF Government health reform agenda and through the NHI Act , he was confident of significant delivery on the healthcare manifesto promises.
He said the country had embarked on a progressive and ambitious health reform agenda as guided by the PF’s manifesto which was premised on being a party that was concerned with the livelihood of the people because Zambia could not develop without healthy citizens and access to quality healthcare was a priority.
Through the NHI Act the PG government would walk the talk of reducing overall inequalities in society because healthcare was central to the overall socio-economic well being of the country.
He said the Government would also invest in the state-of-the-art equipment and processes to ensure the Zambian healthcare system became a regional leader.