ZMA SAYS NO TO FREE LABOR IN THE NAME OF VOLUNTEERING
Lusaka…. Monday May 6, 2024
The Zambia Medical Association is deeply concerned with the repetitive rhetoric that seems to suggest that in order to get employed one must first volunteer their services especially in the Ministry of Health workspace.
This has caused a lot of strife and panic amongst our members, the unemployed after the Presidents recent pronouncement to prioritize those volunteering their services.
The ZMA has on several occasions put it on record that we are against voluntary internship.
Those volunteering their services are at a high risk of contracting diseases in the workspace and are not
covered by any insurance and any calamity that may befall them would not be covered by the hospital or the government.
These are young professionals that are not even vaccinated against diseases such as hepatitis B.
They also work in high risk settings as they are treated as any other employee in the civil service as they execute their duties.
As an association, we have had to take care of volunteers who fell sick in the line of duty by paying for their healthcare as they are often times not covered by NHIMA or any other insurance.
Asking our young doctors to volunteer their services also disadvantages those that are not able to volunteer their services due to financial constraints and has led to unnecessary economic pressure amongst our unemployed doctors in a bid to volunteer so that they can be closer to the pits of employment.
We would like to state that those that are volunteering their services are going against the stance of the profession and they do so with the full understanding of the consequences of working in an infectious environment without any guaranteed insurance cover or health protection and should they succumb to any eventuality, the profession will not be responsible.
We urge the government to desist from subjecting its citizens to free labor in the name of voluntary service, good will or patriotism for there is nothing patriotic about working for free.
These could very well be their children and thus they should exercise caution and not coerce vulnerable graduates into working for free but should level the playing field and employ people without a bias that is creating a vicious cycle of free labor.
It is very sad to note that most of these hospitals are being supported by pseudo-staffing.
This should not be normalized. We still maintain as the Zambia Medical Association that we are strongly
opposed to subjecting our young doctors to free labor.
We are cognizant of the fact that government cannot employ everyone and that is why we insist in
having a robust private sector that can supplement government’s efforts in offering employment in
the long run.
To that effect, we call on the government as we have often done, to support the ZMA recommendation of empowering its members with low interest loans through CEEC or CDF to
enable them to establish private facilities. We believe that this will help create employment, not just
for medical doctors but other cadres too and equally contribute to the national GDP and attainment
of Universal Health Coverage.
Dr. Kaumba Roy Tolopu.
PRESIDENT.