• In the past, only nurses and doctors were being considered for upgrades.
• The Union expects all the disciplines to have good numbers.
• Disciplines like Pharmacy and Biomedical remain without substantial number of upgrades.

Biomedical Union of Zambia has called on Ministry of Health to ensure that all the health disciplines are upgraded in the 4, 112 Health personnel that will be considered for promotion this year.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Union President Daniel Mwimbe noted that in the past, only nurses and doctors were being considered for upgrades, while disciplines like Pharmacy, Biomedical, and others have remained without substantial number of promotions.
Mr. Mwimbe said the Union expects all the disciplines to have good numbers in the over 4, 000 upgrades so as to have a motivated workforce in the health sector.
“We hope even in that upgrading that Ministry of Health is going to consider all the disciplines in terms of numbers. What we have noted in the past is that those upgrades end up for nurses and doctors only. We have all these other disciplines like Pharmacy, Biomedical, and all these other disciplines remaining without substantial number of upgrades.”
“So we want to appeal that as they do the upgrades, they need to consider like they have put it across that they will consider all the disciplines, so we hope that all the disciplines are going to have good numbers in that over 4, 000 upgraded so that we can have all the officers getting motivated,” Mr. Mwimbe said.
And Mr. Mwimbe said the Union is happy that Ministry of Health will upgrade over 4, 000 health workers because there are a lot of people who have been in the system for a very long time without any promotions despite advancing their studies.
“That should excite us, because we have had many people that have qualified to get upgraded and this is something we have been pushing for at PSMD level with government that we need to ensure that those that have graduated, have upgraded their studies, and also they have been in the system for quite some time need to be upgraded and that in itself motivates them.”
“It is very frustrating to see an officer just getting employed today becomes your senior when you have been in the system for a long time and you have upgraded yourself in terms of qualifications but you are still holding the same position. So these are some of the things that we have been emphasizing to Ministry of Health that our officers need promotions,” he stated.
Last week, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Administration Dr. George Magwende disclosed that this year’s recruitment of health workers aims to promote some existing staff in order to enhance motivation and retention of personnel before the recruitment of the 11,276 first entrants.
Dr. Magwende further revealed that a total of 4,112 existing Health Workers across various disciplines will be considered for promotion.