FACT executive Director, Thokozire Nkhoma, said this on Wednesday at the Universal Health coverage awareness rally held in Salima district.

Nkhoma said government should go beyond committing to the 2030 aspiration but rather move with speed to address challenges facing the Health sector in the country.

“I think at the helm of everything is political will, and to honest we have seen that political will as evidenced by the commitment  and it is now time for Government and us as stakeholders the civil society to begin  to work together towards achieving the goal,” she said.

In his remarks, District Medical Officer for Salima, Dr. George Kasondo, said shortage of human resources for health and medical supplies, are among the major impediments to achieving the 2030 aspiration.

The District Medical Officer said much as the district has a good number of Health centres and now with at least enough ambulances there are still some major key challenges if not rectified would affect the attainment of Universal Health Coverage.

“ If we look at Universal Health Coverage it carters across a lot of things, first is the availability of  Human Resources, we are being challenged because we don’t have enough human resources and most of the health service providers are general clinicians we do not have specialized clinicians,” Kasondo said.

He added that there are essential medical drugs not in stock which is away affects effective health service delivery.

Salima District Council Chairperson, Councilor Esther Soko, says her council is committed to achieve the 2030 Universal Health Coverage goal.