The minister came, saw — and set a standard. Health Minister Professor Roma Chilengi toured the University Teaching Hospital on Thursday 8 October and left with a public warning: reports of patients spending four to five hours without being attended to should not be heard of, and such cases would be taken with grief. The visit, to the country's biggest referral hospital, was covered by News Diggers and ZNBC.
There is need for clear accountability and I think we must improve management efforts that have already begun to put these things under control. They need to be expedited so that the investment that has gone in there can be put to use.
— Professor Roma Chilengi, Minister of Health, during Thursday's UTH visit, quoted by News Diggers
ZNBC reported that the minister expressed concern at reports some patients spend more than five hours waiting to be attended to, and directed senior management to improve care and service. The message matches the ministry's current posture: the same minister fronts the health cooperation agreement signed with the United States last week — the pact under which 40,000 additional health workers are to be recruited — and its promises will be judged in waiting rooms like UTH's.
No deadline or sanction accompanied Thursday's directives. The minister framed the fix as acceleration, not overhaul: management efforts already begun should be expedited, he said, so that the investment that has gone into the hospital can be put to use. What patients will measure is simpler — the hours between arrival and attention.
The minister's message
- Four-to-five-hour waits 'should not be heard of'
- Clear accountability demanded of management
- Improvements already begun must be expedited
- Visit: Thursday 8 October, University Teaching Hospital
Sources: News Diggers, “No patient should wait long hours at UTH – Chilengi” (10 Oct 2026); ZNBC, “Health Minister Tours UTH with Call for Improved Care and Service” (10 Oct 2026).