Luanda - The Angolan government will continue to build hospitals until it reaches a satisfactory national coverage, as part of the ongoing plan, the country’s president João Lourenço said Tuesday.
“There are many more hospitals to be built. We're building and inaugurating at a good pace,” said the president, after the inauguration of the Mário Pinto de Andrade General Hospital in Cuanza-Norte.
According to the president, the government has recently been inaugurating four to five hospital units a year and aims to double this average by 2025 to bring health services closer to the population through the construction of more hospital units of primary, secondary and tertiary level.
“There are many more hospital units to be built. We're already at a good pace,” Lourenço said.
João Lourenço indicated that there are two areas of health that concern him: oncology and the construction of manufacturing units for medicines and vaccines, underlining that an Oncology Hospital is currently under construction in Luanda, which should be completed in 2026 and that a special attention will be paid to training of staff.
As for the construction of an industry for the production of medicines production, the president said the government aims to invite the private sector to invest in this area, so that the state could stop or reduce the import of medicines.
Investment in the health sector
Health continues to occupy an important place in the government's priorities, with encouraging results, particularly considering the commitment to local services and increased access to primary care.
As a result, mortality among children under the age of five fell from 68 to 52 per thousand live births, and among children under the age of one, from 44 to 32 per thousand live births. Maternal mortality fell from 239 to 170 per 100,000 live births.
A truly structural transformation of the National Health Service is underway, aimed at achieving universal coverage.
Of the more than 30 million consultations carried out by the end of the first half of 2024, around 73% were carried out in Primary Health Care units.
The country's health network currently consists of 3,346 units: 3,094 health posts and centers, 173 Municipal Hospitals, 23 Provincial Hospitals, 34 Specialized Hospitals and 22 Central Hospitals.
Tertiary level hospitals were reinforced in Bengo province, with the inauguration of the General Hospital and several others in Luanda and in Cunene province with the General Simione Mukune Cunene General Hospital.
The investment made in modern hospital infrastructures is making it possible to improve the quality of highly complex medical care, particularly in terms of neurosurgery and cardiac and orthopedic surgery.
To keep up with the dynamics of technological development in the health field, the Robotic Surgery Implementation Program began this year, with the support of a team of specialists from the United States of America.
The government has said it will continue to consolidate its commitment to treat people with kidney failure by increasing the capacity to provide hemodialysis services.
In order to reduce the deficit that still exists and to keep up with the growth of the health network, a total of 46,705 health professionals from the most different categories have been hired since 2017, representing an increase of 43.6% in the workforce.ART/TED/AMP
