Standard Gauge Railway line

The Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, has called for cooperation among African States to improve service delivery. He said Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda had taken a step forward to consolidate cooperation, by constructing a joint modern Standard Gauge Railway line.

Rugunda was meeting the Zambian Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, with whom they discussed health development cooperation between the two countries. The meeting took place at the Prime Minister’s office in Kampala. He said respective countries in Africa should appreciate the advantages of pooling resources. ‘A country stands to benefit if procurements are pooled such as drugs, instead of having segmented procurements’, he said.

The Prime Minister, a graduate of the University of Zambia, spoke highly about the country and the people of Zambia. ‘Zambia is extremely dear to me. I studied medicine in Zambia after running away from Amin’s regime’, he said adding, ‘Zambia has a lot of commonality with Uganda in terms of language and names such as Mulenga’.

The Zambian Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Chitalu, informed the Premier about efforts being taken to improve the health service supply chain in Zambia. He said the Aids control structures set up by the Government of Zambia have been able to reduce HIV/AIDS scourge in the country. He therefore looked forward to the strengthening of bilateral relationship with Uganda.

He concurred with the Premier about the need for African countries to cooperate, in order to set up quality health service facilities on the continent.