Hwange Central Constituency legislator, Honorable Daniel Molokele has been appointed the new Chairperson for the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health.
By Michael Gwarisa
Hon Molokele’s decorated experience in the public healthcare sector and advocacy since 2008 is set to scale the Portfolio of Health to dizzy heights. He has been working with Civil Society from 2009 where he as the Africa Programme Officer for the World AIDS Campaign. He later on served as the the Southern Africa Regional Porgramme Manager for partnership with CSOs for the Access to Medicine Program.
He also served as the Executive Director of AIDS Accountability International and served in many public health forums and also in many CSO networks in particular, he was champion for domestic funding for health and coordinator of the African CSO Platform, for health.
Speaking in an interview with HealthTimes following his appointment, Hon Molokele said he is not new to the committee and is confident his presence will bring change in the healthcare sector at large.
In the last five years, i have been a member of the healthcare committee in Parliament, so in terms of the oversight role, we will continue to make sure that as a committee, the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) fulfills its mandate especially with regards to Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) and in terms of access to Medicines and Diagnostics,” said Hon Molokele.
He added that his committee will push for the procurement of Cancer radiotherapy machines and other key diagnostic tools essential for quality healthcare service delivery.
“We will push for the procurement of tools such as diagnostics or equipment for cancer. We really need to push even for Dialysis and so on, we really need to push for that. I also need to push for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the healthcare sector. In all our public healthcare institutions, there should be wings where they lease out to private partners so that people who have got the means and resources can go there and use the payments that they make there to subsidize other wings.”
He said this model will be piloted at Mpilo Hospital and Parirenyatwa Hospital. He said he will also push for the fulfillment of the Africa Abuja Declaration on domestic funding for healthcare which seeks to promote 15 percent budget allocation for healthcare.
“I will push on the access to healthcare for Key Populations and also access to safe termination of pregnancy and the amendment, updating and modernization of the Termination of Pregnancy Act in line with the advancements that have been made both in technology and in human rights,” he added.
