MORE than half of health sector staff needed all over the country are not on the post, weakening the provision of services after wide ranging construction of dispensaries and elevating other health care infrastructure, while obtaining plenty of new equipment, the government has acknowledged

Ummy Mwalimu, the Health minister, made this observation at a nationwide stakeholders’ forum to collect views for drafting the forthcoming Development Vision 2050 in Dar es Salam over the weekend.

The 60 per cent deficit of healthcare staff in public medicare institutions stems from the low capacity of the government to hire more civil servants, she stated, elaborating that quite often workload that ought to be distributed to six medical staff is handled by two such officers, impeding speed and time spent on each case addressed.

“In the recent years, we have witnessed massive investment in the health sector including construction of hospitals, dispensaries, health centres as well equipping our health facilities with modern medical equipment and so many other interventions which have in-turn led to high demand for medical staff,” she said.

The country has done a lot to produce enough and competent doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other qualified health professionals who are many in the streets, she stated, telling the audience that this is why the government has taken initiatives to send some of them to places like Saudi Arabia.

She urged stakeholders to understand the challenge the government faces to provide concrete views to help build long-term, sustainable solutions for the provision of quality health services.

The minister appealed for productive opinions which will help shape the health sector, asserting that the country needs to draw up what kind of health services that Tanzanians need in the next 25 years.

“Decisions in the health sector are critical and need careful attention,” she further noted, explaining that in the current Vision 2025, the government made huge improvements facilitating access to quality reproductive health services, reduction of maternal mortality rates and greater assurance to quality primary health care.

Efforts by the government and stakeholders to improve service provision have seen positive trends where maternal mortality fell by 80 percent from 556 deaths in 2015/16 to 104 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, she said in illustration

The government has invested heavily in vaccines and various interventions to protect people from diseases, she said, pointing out that under-five children inoculation has reached 94 percent.

The country is not yet doing well in cutting down newborn deaths, a big challenge where efforts are ongoing to address it, she said, appealing to the stakeholders to advise how the nation can address high costs of health services. This is a major challenge facing the public, she emphasised.

Prof Kitila Mkumbo, the Planning and Investment state minister in the President’s Office, said that in a survey conducted by the Planning Commission as part of collecting views of the Vision 2050 drafting show that 81 percent of Tanzanians demand better social services.

“We have collected views from Tanzanians on the Vision that they want, and many of them want the government to invest in initiatives that will facilitate the provision of affordable quality social services while promoting a stable economy,” he said.

Globally, the major role of the government is the provision of social services to the people, he said in remarks elaborated by Lawrence Mafuru, the Planning Commission executive secretary, who said that views were collected in workshops, mobile phones and other dialogue forums.

The majority want major investments in social services, with the commission having until next month to collect views from various groups before drafting a framework for delivering the views in the formal draft, he added.