The future looks bright for those wishing to pursue a career in Medicine after the announcement by the Minister for Health, Dr. Lino Tom, of his ministry and the National Executive Council (NEC) plans to introduce a standalone Medical University that must be established from 2023 onwards.
Dr. Lino, when giving his ministerial statement on the floor of parliament in last week Thursday’s parliament session, said that he will be commencing collaboration with the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Mr. Don Polye and other stakeholder to progress these possible options.
“This will definitely take some time, but a clear work plan will be developed to show how we will achieve this,” the minister stated.
He reiterated that health is labour intensive and without adequate workforce, health services will be compromised.
Meanwhile, the minister also expressed great confidence in the state of the health system of the country, stating that the health sector has gone through reforms to strengthen and improving health delivery systems. He said the key significant reform being the establishment of the Provincial Health Authorities (PHA) for a unified health service delivery in all provinces in the country.
One of his key priorities is to strengthen this major reform by ensuring all relevant legislations are reviewed and amended to remove political interference in the selection of boards so credibility is restored to ensure the people’s health remains in good hands.
“This also goes to the selection and appointment of CEOs. The systems established will have to process candidates and provide a list that will be left for the province to select from, not the other way around,” Dr. Lino added.
He further stated that his ministry will continue to support the ongoing system, strengthening programs supported by their development partners, especially in leadership and management training and the Public Finance Management training and system building.