Ministry of Health gets equipment from FC-SDS

The Facility and Community-based Service Delivery Support project (FC-SDS),, which is implemented by the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), with support from the United States government through the stop TB partnership, has handed over equipment valued at…

The Facility and Community-based Service Delivery Support project (FC-SDS),, which is implemented by the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), with support from the United States government through the stop TB partnership, has handed over equipment valued at K5.4 million to the Ministry of Health at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) Adult Hospital in Lusaka.

Speaking during the handover of the General Gene Xpert computers, Spirometers and Oxygen concentrators, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services, Kennedy Lishimpi, said the equipment will help support the phase one implementation of post tuberculosis lung disease care in selected facilities in the Country.

Dr Lishimpi said most of the existing GeneXpert instruments are currently used for rifampicin resistance testing.

The Permanent Secretary added that the lack of suitable hardware has limited the scale up of testing for resistance to other anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs.

“The 200 computers being provided today will facilitate the scale-up of reflex XDR testing-through activation of 200 GeneXpert machines to 10 colour module machines capable of rapidly detecting resistance to additional anti-TB drugs that cannot be detected by standard rifampicin-based testing alone,” Dr Lishimpi explained.

He further said that 200 desktop computers, eight Spirometers and five Oxygen Concentrators have been handed over to the ministry, adding that the equipment will strengthen the capacity of the TB diagnostic network to identify drug-resistant disease and support appropriate treatment.

And the Charge d’ Affairs at the United States Embassy in Zambia, Mich Coker, said the handed over equipment is an important investment in Zambia’s health system.

Mr Coker added that the equipment is an expansion of the ability of health workers to diagnose diseases sooner and choose the right treatment faster.

He further said the equipment is important because a faster and accurate diagnosis is an opportunity to begin critical treatment days or weeks earlier.

“It reduces the risk of transmitting TB to family members and to others in the community,” Mr Coker said.

Meanwhile, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) Chief Medical Officer, Carolyn Bolton, said the equipment is meant to strengthen the systems and capacity needed to deliver quality TB services.

Dr Bolton said this in a speech read on her behalf by CIDRZ Chief Financial Officer, Ronald Sinkala.

She added that the handover of the equipment was an opportunity to translate the partnerships into tangible resources for the health system.

“We hope those resources will enable health workers to provide better diagnostic and clinical services and ultimately improve the experience and outcome of people affected by TB,” she said.