The Health Service Commission (HSC) is set to introduce mandatory breathalyser tests and drug screenings for all medical personnel in a bid to tackle substance abuse within the healthcare sector.
Speaking at a stakeholder consultative meeting at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals on Tuesday, HSC Secretary Christopher Pasi said the initiative mirrors safety protocols already in place in the mining and manufacturing industries.
The measure is designed to ensure that the country’s 52,000 health workers are of “sound mind” when attending to patients. Said Pasi:
“The issue of, for example, substance testing or breathalysers, which occur in other industries such as complex manufacturing or mining, is an issue that we need to look at.
“How can we encompass that within our own regulation so that this issue of substance abuse is not only a danger to the person themselves but to the patient that is being managed?”
The HSC will work with the Health Professions Authority (HPA) to establish a technical team responsible for standardising regulations across all eight health councils.
The proposed framework aims to equip managers with the skills to identify early signs of addiction, introduce confidential peer-reporting systems, and implement breathalyser or substance testing for medical personnel.
HPA Secretary-General Clotilda Chimbwanda welcomed the initiative, saying that while individual councils have handled cases of substance abuse, a unified protocol is essential.
The Health Committee of the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council reported that nearly 100 practitioners nationwide are currently under supervision for alcohol and substance abuse issues.
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