ONLY 83 out of more than 400 anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres in the country are accredited by the Medical Council of Zambia (MCZ), registrar Mary Zulu has said.

Dr Zulu said in Lusaka yesterday that as at June 30 this year, there were 444 centres out which only 83 had so far been accredited.

She said during a Press briefing on the ART accreditation programme that 240 centres were recently assessed throughout the country out of which only 83 went through for the accreditation.

"Among other things, the accreditation system involves preliminaries, where firstly it is verified whether the health facility is registered by the MCZ or not. It is also verified whether health care providers in that facility have practising certificates either from MCZ or the General Nursing Council.

"The other part involves physical assessment of a health facility where assessors carry out a thorough assessment of the site to evaluate suitability of the infrastructure," Dr Zulu said.

MCZ was mandated by law to accredit the centre providing the ART services because there was need to ensure high standards given the sensitivity of the area.

Dr Zulu said given that more than 14 per cent of the Zambian total population was leaving with the virus, which caused AIDS, it was cardinal to provide quality health care to address their plight.

She said it was imperative that practitioners providing such services operated in conducive atmospheres as the prime mandate of the MCZ was to protect and safeguard the public.

"In this vein, we pledge to do everything possible so that art services in the country meet the set standards.

"Subsequently, we implore all health facilities out there offering HIV/AIDS services or intending to offer ART to ensure that they are accredited by the council," she said.