EDITORIAL: Bureaucracy should not be allowed to hinder health sector

If there is one area that has registered tremendous achievements in recent years, it is the health sector. The government has made the wellbeing of citizens a priority, and it all begins with a healthy population. The national health insurance scheme, Mutuelle de Sante, has played a big role in transforming the health arena, but so has the capacity building efforts to build the profession. Early this month, the Ministry of Health announced that every district hospital had at least 10 doctors, an incredible achievement from the previous years when a hospital in rural areas could be staffed by only one or two qualified doctors. But for the trend to continue, every cog in the health sector wheel must work in tandem, but the nurses and midwifery departments seem to be reading from a different script. Graduates in both fields are supposed to be registered in the National Council of Nurses and Midwives (NCNM) prior to qualify to practice, but they complain that bureaucracy in the professional association is not making things easy. They complain of long delays in getting their accreditations; some even allege they have waited for as long as two years after graduation. This is unacceptable, whatever the reasons. The Ministry of Health should look into this matter as soon as possible as the professional body has failed to cope with what it claims are large numbers of applicants. Nurses and midwives are an integral part in meeting the health needs of the people, and the sooner the ministry does away with the bureaucracy, the better.

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EDITORIAL: Bureaucracy should not be allowed to hinder health sector