Abstract
The Zimbabwean Health Sector had commendable management and was a top performer in the African Continent. In the mid 1990’s the country experienced a socio-economic collapse resulting in deterioration of the national health system. The weakening of the Zimbabwean health sector has mainly been attributed to the poor economic performance in the past two decades, however the contribution of management to the problem has not been analyzed. In the Zimbabwean context, all doctors have some management responsibilities that they are expected to deliver, because of shortage of the skilled health workers, often clinicians end up running medical institutions even in interim capacity. The aim of this study was to investigate current management competencies in the Zimbabwean health sector.An online questionnaire was used to assess the management competencies of 28 medical and dental practitioners in Matebeleland South Province. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with key informants in varying levels of the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) Human Resource departments. Research findings revealed that most medical and dental practitioners have poor management competencies in running health institutions due to lack of training in management and administration in their undergraduate medical training and compromised various human resource processes. On this basis, it is recommended that training in management be incorporated into undergraduate medical training curriculums, the medical and dental practitioners’ council to work with professional bodies to implement current business management guidelines and the Health Service Board to collaborate with the Public Service Commission to revive management and administrative training programs for the MOHCC. Keywords: Management competencies, medical and dental practitioners, human resources, health management DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-14-05 Publication date: May 31 st 2020
Highlights
1.1 Background The National Health Strategy 2016-2020 (2015, p3) informs that following independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean Health delivery system was robust, there were high quality clinical services and there was effective coverage of medical interventions
While doctors concede that they do not receive formal management training, they still get the opportunity to lead as managers and administrators in health institutions
The is a great deficiency of management skills in doctors who are managers, and this has a significant bearing on the performance of the health institutions
Summary
1.1 Background The National Health Strategy 2016-2020 (2015, p3) informs that following independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean Health delivery system was robust, there were high quality clinical services and there was effective coverage of medical interventions. Zimbabwe was a top performer in the African Continent and management in the sector was commendable. In the mid 1990’s the country experienced a socio-economic collapse resulting in deformation of the national health system, there was a decline in key health indicators and public health service availability. LaGrone et al (2017) stresses that government funding for the health sector reduced significantly which resulted in low and declined pay for health workers. High attrition of experienced managers compromised provision of supportive supervision and performance monitoring of health workers including medical doctors. World Health Organization (2018) affirms substantial outmigration, transfers to the private sector and non-health fields, early retirement, and death, all contributed to health workforce attrition and was compounded by a low replacement rate
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