As a result of being limited, humans are inundated with a deluge of needs, which must be doused, for them to lead a happy and healthy lives. As vertical and horizontal parameters of human needs go, the horizontal parameter is gargantuan; as such, the human needs demand the whole gamut of knowledge to be surmounted. Inevitably, there is no person, under the sun, that meets all their needs without collaborations with others. The good news is that humans have conterminous health prerequisites and basic needs; this makes it easier, for them, to specialise and interdepend. Necessity is the mother of invention, therefore, humans, organisations, countries, and continents are required to carve out niches for themselves. And fairness in the exchange of goods and services must be guaranteed.

In order for a country to improve, put the indigenes down to make inroads into their obstacles, and for that to happen, they must be healthy. In this case, it is impossible to overstate the importance of health sector. With a collective effort, the health sector is saddled with the responsibility to submerse the entire population in an ecological haven (preventive). In the contingency that some are submerged into unwanted circumstances, the health sector must be ready to restore the hapless (curative). This paper will make use of a football team as an allegory of the health team. The thrust will be on the profound value of: having specialised health experts, light bearers; teamwork, due to limitations; and a formation, a winning formula against health problems.

A Football Team On the Pitch: The Best of Both Worlds at Work

Every journey has a purpose, a destination, and a duration. The same applies to the game of football. The purpose of a football match is, for the team, to win and, ultimately, becomes the champion. It is pivotal to highlight that “the ball” is the “centrepiece” of the game, so every player must be versant with it, from their obverse, for the benefit of the team. By design, the football team works with eleven players. Each player holds a unique position on the pitch, and must have a special facility for it. It denotes that every player must have the crux of the position held off pat, and know how it is upheld by, and linked to, the whole team. In essence, each player is a cog with limited autonomy; thus, the success of the team is hinged on the matrix of individual and collective efforts consolidated. This brings us to the formation; the winning syntax in the game of football.

For the sake of efficiency and effectiveness, the football team has to be configured into a winning formula called formation. In association football, formation is the position players take in relation to each other on the pitch. And this depends on the needs of the team. Divers formations exist, however, here is a generic one: Goalkeeper; Defence (fullback, halfback, centre back); Midfield (offensive, defensive and centre midfield); and Forward (centre forward, right and left wingers).

All told, the supremacy of the team depends on the following: policies and direction (Leadership), efficiency and effectiveness (Management), and value and accountability (Governance). On that note, we expect the vision carrier to cause alignment, in the line of excellence, and then leverage the synergy formed amongst the players. It indicates that each player and the coach are plenipotentiaries of the team, and the captain being the interlocutor of the team. Take note that the eleven numbers, held by the players, in and of themselves are nominal; they are not echeloned. Illatively, each number is a distinct department with special cachet, and its contribution, solely, depends on the prowess of the incumbent player. Below are the trappings of a team destined for unparalleled record:

– United team members; unity in diversity for purpose. The players are housebroken and semper fidelis to the team.

– Protective and enabling environment and motivation are turnkey to summon the best versions of the players.

– Parity amongst players is a must; the conditions of service are standardised and levelled, for they share responsibilities towards the same end.

– Transparency, accountability, and probity be the shared values amongst team members. Also the governing laws and monitoring and evaluation, always, in full force.

Health Sector as A Pitch: Health Professions as Positions On the Pitch

The pith of a health match is, for the health team, to whittle the public health threats down to size; perforce, better the health outcomes of the general public. It is vital to underscore that “the human being” is, the ball, “the lodestone” of the health game, and every player must be familiar with it. The health team is made of health professionals, the players, holding specific and highly specialised positions called health professions. As expatiated, in the game of football, none of these health professions is given precedence. Consequently, each of them is unique and special, and its contribution is, entirely, reliant on the ability of the player in place. As is in football, the health team must be streamlined in order to subdue the adversary. Here is the winning formation for the health team:

– Forward: This is a broadside of preventive health services; making incursions into the territories of the opponents. As a striker, environmental health profession is perfected to penetrate the entire government sphere, where goods and services are exchanged, and nip the health threats in the bud. Each health problem prevented, by environmental health professionals, is a goal scored, and this is only possible with coordination and full support from everyone in the team.

– Midfield: In health parlance, this is public health; a melting pot of the broadside and a blockade. With its ancillary disciplines, public health is there to ballast the health team, and it is a mixture of offensive and defensive midfields; preventive and curative health professions.

– Defence: This is the blockade of curative health professions designated to diagnose, treat, and provide care for those fall victim to health problems, missed by preventive health professionals. The following are the arch professions in the defence of the health team: Nursing, Biomedicine, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Dentistry, Radiography, and Human Medicine and Surgery (medical doctor). The medical doctor is the goalkeeper of the health team. It is worth noting that the goalkeeper is the only player authorised to use both hands and legs, but, restricted to their area of jurisdiction. Besides being involved in assessment and treatment, the medical doctor, as a goalkeeper, is the only player weaved to perform surgical operations to patients.

It is lucid, from above, that the game of football has been applied, in the health sector, to bring order among health professionals. The corollaries such as; throw-ins, corner kicks, free kicks, penalties, verbal warnings, yellow and red cards signify that football matches are governed by the rules of the game, which must never be flouted by anyone. The same applies to the health sector. Grok that whenever the player is red carded, they leave the pitch, but the number held remains. Fathom that a penalty, in health sector, is a situation where the patient is in a critical condition; a matter of life and death. Here the medical doctor, the goalkeeper, comes face-to-face with the dratted health hazard, the penalty taker. This is a show down; is the goalkeeper conceding or saving this life? Since, each life lost, through the medical doctor, is a loss to the whole team.

What is cardinal to imbibe is that the game of health, like that of football, has two specialised sides, and a general one to stabilise the team. The game is all about attacking; to gain advantage, and defending; to deflate the pressure from health threats. And these two specialised functions are domiciled in preventive and curative health professions. Surmise the pitch is folded, in the middle, the two extreme sides become the sides of the same coin; pivoting on the woven midfield, public health. As a result, none of the two sides pre-empts public health profession; any attempt is tantamount to fitting a square peg in a round hole – the universal truth forfends.

Zambian Health Team; In Unenviable State

The health team for Zambia is a different kettle of fish, in that, it is divided. The health professionals, from different health professions, are at daggers drawn; it is cutthroat business. This is a sequel of allowing the maladroit individuals to occupy limited positions in institutions consigned to cause alignment. Here is what is obtaining in Zambia:

– Due to ignorance, the medical doctors have arrogated to themselves the rights to be in charge of the health team. Image the goalkeeper undermining the players, be all over the pitch, leaving the goal partially guarded by demotivated defenders. The medical doctors, therefore, bear the brunt of the blame for increased health problems and deaths in Zambia.

– Permitting the nursing to secede from health professions was the thin end of the wedge. Instead of putting the house in order, the nursing profession is advancing the confusion by introducing an illegal profession, in the name of public health nursing, with outlandish knowledge base. Diploma and degree, in public health nursing, are strange and have no number in the health team. Who is benefiting from this outlawed activity?

– Massive destruction of preventive health services. Under the illusion, a cabal of criminals, from curative health professions, is bent on subverting the mandate of preventive health professions for personal gain. What is a team without a striker to score? Environmental health professionals (EHPs) are the centre forward for the health team. Be that as it may, only diploma is recognised; there is no ironclad structure to accommodate the whole knowledge quality parameters. It means that EHPs, with BSc, MSc, PhD, and above, are subjected to diploma conditions of service. Who is responsible for this stolid and tyrannical treatment?

– The benighted medical doctors are making a gigantic effort to debase and overtake the public health discipline, which is not going to happen. Actually, the higher institutions of learning, in cahoots with turncoats and venal regulatory bodies, have introduced a fictitious public health profession, at diploma and degree levels. The real McCoy public health is exclusively for a handful of health professionals and available at master’s level and above. It is a synthesis of a dyadic specialised health services, and is designed to provide overarching leadership and stability to the entire team. Who are the miscreants for this illegitimate interpolation?

– Prejudicial and biased condition of services for health professionals. Health professionals from different professions are paid differently for the same substandard health services rendered. For instance, the medical doctors are paid more for fomenting confusion in the heath team. Who is behind this malversation?

Conclusion:

It is apparent that failure is in vogue; the Zambian health team does not possess the accoutrements of a team on the cutting edge. In short, the health solutions procured by the Zambian health team do not have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating the health problems caused by health hazards.

Recommendations for Zambia:

Culling the educated population, for the limited positions, is the way forward for Zambia. Accordingly, total restructuring is a moral step to take, for a seismic change to ensue, in the health sector.

Coda:

Law submits to knowledge; knowledge gives birth to law; there can never be laws without knowledge. Henceforth, give respect and protection to the creators and purveyors of knowledge; knowledge in form of universal truth.