The Resident Doctors Association of Zambia has commended the government for considering junior resident medical officers among the recent four thousand health recruits.

RDAZ president Mweushi Mphande says the additional number of health workers in health facilities will enhance quality and efficiency workforce that will later promote good patient service delivery countrywide.

In an interview with ZANIS Dr Mphade seconded the Health Minister’s plan to investigate rumours of fraud in the recent recruitment.

He stated that apart from investigating fraudulent activities the minister should also investigate how the recruitment process was conducted.

Dr Mphade observed that the recruitment was supposed to be based on the 2023 data but that even those that graduated in November 2024 have been employed.

“This year’s recruitment was supposed to be based on the database collected in 2023, considering those who were left out on the 2021 and 2022 recruitment but the Association has noticed that a good number of medical doctors out of 391, 222 are newly graduated medical doctors from 2023 and 2024 some even graduating in November 2024, got their practicing licenses in January 2025 have been recruited leaving behind 218 medical doctors that have been waiting from 2021,2022 among them others have been volunteering for years,” said Dr Mphande.

He however, commended the government for publishing the names of the recent recruits in the newspapers, stating that the initiative promotes accountability in the health sector.

Dr Mphande said RDAZ also acknowledges the Minister’s efforts in trying to sort out pressing challenges in the ministry of health.

He further called upon all authority wings to closely investigate all the irregularities in the recent recruitment and bring to book perpetrators in order to maintain sanity in the health sector and the country at large.