On the occasion, the minister classified the procedure for training staff in the sector under her tutelage as ambitious. In response to the concerns expressed by the provincial governor of Uíge, José Carvalho da Rocha – who defended the need for more staff and the construction of new hospital units –, the holder of the Health portfolio said that the locality has 105 doctors and 240 nurses to carry out specialties, medium technicians, and soon graduates will also carry out specialties, writes Angop.
Regarding the need to build infrastructures, the official stressed that whenever a source of funding appears, priority initiatives will be introduced, writes Angop.
Still on this point, Sílvia Lutucuta took the opportunity to underline that a tertiary-level general hospital is being built in Uíge, with completion expected within two years. However, she recognized the need for that province to have a pediatric reference hospital unit, as well as a maternity hospital that accommodates all conditions.
Furthermore, the minister, quoted by Angop, took the opportunity to announce that Uíge will have an "epidemiological antenna", which is why certain staff are undertaking a master's degree in field epidemiology. According to Angop, the reinforcement in this type of preventive health is explained by the fact that the area shares a border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is assumed to be a fragile area in the appearance of an epidemic.
It should be noted that on Thursday, the governor of Uíge gave a presentation by the President of the Republic on the reality of socio-economic development in the province. One of the sectors highlighted was health, with José Carvalho da Rocha informing that this sector at provincial level has 3051 professionals (196 doctors and 1777 nurses).
According to a note from the Provincial Government of Uíge, which VerAngola had access to, the governor "considered the small number taking into account the need to expand medical assistance services to the populations of the 16 municipalities that make up the province".
The official also stressed that "in the province there are only 370 hospital units, one of which is provincial in scope, representing a hospitalization capacity of 1,089 beds, which is why he defended the need to build new hospital units".
Among other aspects, the official also defended the "need to build a pediatric hospital and another maternal and child hospital, taking into account the increase in the birth rate".
According to Angop, in the last five years, 33,093 professionals were trained in the field of health, completing an increase of around 35 percent of the total workforce. Still in the period in question, there was also an increase of 163 modern health units equipped with modern technology. Thus, the National Health System currently has 96,831 professionals and 13,426 more beds.
