Preparations for health indaba at advanced stage Dr Moyo

Joseph Madzimure Senior Reporter
PREPARATIONS for the 23rd Association of Medical Councils of Africa (AMCOA) annual conference set for next week in Victoria Falls are at an advanced stage, with 170 delegates from all over the continent confirming their attendance, Health Professions Authority chief executive officer Mr Shepherd Humure has said.

Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo will be the guest of honour at the conference, which will be co-hosted by the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe and Health Professions Authority of Zimbabwe, and will run from July 17-21.

The conference will run under the theme: “Role of the regulator in the delivery of the universal health coverage.”

The theme of the conference resonates well with the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s vision of providing health at primary level and establishing a National Health Insurance Scheme.

Mr Humure said preparations for the conference were now at an advanced stage. “We can safely say we are 100 percent done with the preparations,” he said.

“We are now waiting for the conference to kick-start. So far we have 170 delegates who have confirmed attendance.

“Apart from local delegates, we also have (delegates from) South Africa, United States of America, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Swaziland, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Namibia, Mauritius, Malawi, Lesotho and Ghana among other countries.”

Top of the agenda for the conference will be discussions on the formulation of policies by health profession regulators to ensure that universal health coverage is achieved in Africa.

Mr Humure said the conference was an opportunity to foster best practices by health professionals and ethical practices, as well as harmonisation of standards for medical education and training.

He said the primary purpose of AMCOA was to support regulatory authorities in Africa in the protection of the public interest by promoting high standards of medical education, registration and regulation and facilitating the ongoing exchange of information among healthy regulatory authorities.

Mr Humure said the role of the regulator in universal health coverage was to balance healthcare “supply and demand”.

“Supply side involves human resources for health, health facilities, commodities and joint health inspections with standardised checklist,” he said.

“Demand side involves reinforcement of quality of care and patient safety, grant access to healthcare financing, increased communities demand, etc.

“Zimbabwe will benefit in the exchange of ideas on these issues.”
Mr Humure urged African governments to be creative and innovative to stop the importation of medical equipment.

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