Act Now To Forestall Looming Catastrophe – Ngoma

Charles Ngoma, former Vice President of the Zambia Medical Association, has written an open letter to President Edgar Lungu to outline his concerns over the way the government is attempting to manage the third wave of COVID-19.

Dr Ngoma presented two main ideas to President Lungu to ensure the government deals with COVID-19 better than it is doing so at present.

He starts with suggesting President Lungu leads his country and keeps Zambian citizens up to date daily on the number of cases which are being reported, as is done in several other countries around the world.

“I do not think that it would make much of a difference to numbers, but sometimes even when we know that there is nothing we can do, words do matter. At a time like this, the nation needs to SEE leadership and not just to suspect it.”

Secondly, Dr Ngoma suggests building healthcare facilities within the country, having seen the Chinese infrastructure which has been built.

“We have had massive infrastructure buildings all around the country and largely with the help of the Chinese. This is probably the time to ask for help again to build new temporary hospitals to cater to the many patients that we could be expecting,” he said.

Adding to this, Dr Ngoma stresses the importance of keeping COVID-19 patients in one place to help reduce the spread of the virus within hospitals, which is what the government are currently doing.

In spite of upcoming elections, Dr Ngoma has stressed the importance of Mr Lungu to continue to lead the Zambian people whilst campaigning. At the moment, sadly, it appears that President Lungu has rather forgotten about the primary focus of his role.

Photo: Lusaka Times