Minister of Health and Social Services Esperance Luvindao says if public hospitals are good enough for regular citizens, they should be good enough for senior government officials and politicians.

She stated this while delivering a ministerial statement in the National Assembly.

The minister says about 1,200 senior government officials, including members of parliament under the Public Service Employees Medical Aid Scheme (PSEMAS), will make use of public health facilities as of the first of April.

She says health facilities have seen significant improvement over the past decades and are suitable enough to cater to the needs of those under Psemas.

"This vision is based on the narrative that says, now more than ever, if we as leaders say that the hospitals and health facilities are good enough for anybody else, they should be good enough for us. And if not, it is time that we make them, that we update them and bring them to the levels where we want them to get to."

The minister says assessments have been carried out nationwide at health facilities to see whether they are ready to meet the demands.

She says over one thousand seven hundred additional staff have already been employed since last year as a decongestion strategy as well as direct procurement of pharmaceuticals to meet demand.

"The way forward then is not to shy away from making government officials use it and to question whether or not we are ready, but to fast forward that process to ensure that a progressive solution is not to say we are not ready but is to get the facilities to a level whereby they are able to meet the needs of the people, and people are able to call them their own facilities."