Registration

Pursuant to the Health Professions Act No. 24 of 2009, Section 6 (1) a health practitioner shall not practice unless that person is registered in accordance with this Act. Under the Health Professions Act, the Council is mandated to maintain the following Registers:

• Provisional
• Limited
• Temporary
• Full
• Specialist

It is thus a legal requirement that all health Practitioners must be registered in order to practice their profession. The registration of Health Practitioners by the Council ensures that only duly qualified Practitioners are legally allowed to practice in Zambia and entry on the register indicates that the Practitioner has acquired the necessary qualifications, knowledge and skills in their profession to provide appropriate standards of care.

Recognition and approval of local health programmes and assessment of foreign trained health Practitioners protects patients by ensuring that every Practitioner has the right competences, skills and knowledge needed to offer health services. Registration and renewal procedures also allows the Council to promptly take action against those Practitioners who fail to meet the prescribed standards. In this way, the Council guarantees the general public and the patients that those Practitioners maintained on the registers, are fit and competent to practice. Registration therefore is a two-way bargain, Practitioners enjoy the privilege of registration and practice, but in return the Council demands high standards of practice from them.