(AllAfrica.com)Members of Parliament have called for health insurance coverage for all Tanzanians, noting that the government should find ways of making the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) accessible to every Tanzanian, regardless of whether they are in the formal sector or not.
Debating budget estimates for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare here, the legislators decried weaknesses in the current distribution system of drugs and medical equipment and the scarcity of health workers, noting that a sure way of keeping Tanzanians safer was by enrolling all of them in the national health insurance scheme.
Contributing to the debate, Mrs Margaret Sitta (Special Seats - CCM) noted that enrolling all Tanzanians with the National Health Insurance Fund would go far in ensuring access of quality healthcare, singling out mothers and children who are some of the people who need to be kept safe.
She asked the government to fast-track review of the structure of the Medical Stores Department so that it becomes more effective in distributing drugs and medical equipment across the country. She also urged the government to consider using nursing assistants at health centres to offset staff shortage in rural areas.
The Mp asked the minister of Health to explain to the public what pregnant mothers are obliged to pay at a government hospital when they go to give birth. Making her contribution, Josephat Kandege (Kalambo - CCM) also asked the government to devise means of getting every Tanzanian to enrol with NHIF .
Civic United Front (CUF) Special Seat MP Magdalena Sakaya said political leaders should pay attention to the interests of medical workers, arguing that would in turn have a positive impact on the quality of health care they give. She decried some medical personnel who engage in malpractices in rural health centres.
Nyamagana MP Ezekiel Wenje (Chadema) decried the lack of enough health workers in rural health centres, noting that the number was dismal compared with the number of patients. He said financial resources for Bugando Referral Hospital should be increased to enable it handle more complicated cases in the lake zone.
He also appealed to the minister to intervene in his area where two dispensaries have been built, but bureaucratic processes of registering them meant people in the area would still not access health services from the new structures.
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