Government faulted on poor health services

Government faulted on poor health services

most women are at health risk

People of group Village Headman Chisi in the northern district of Karonga have blamed government for neglecting their lives due to its failure to construct a health clinic in the area.

This came out during an interface meeting conducted by the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) on Thursday, where the people said the delay by government to build for them an accessible health facility shows that government does not care about their health.

“Our plea for a hospital has been long overdue. Reaching this far we are left with questions as to whether government officials ever consider us as Malawians at all,” explained Lyson Chikwera a member of the Village Development Committee.

Chikwera added that responses from government officials has always been negative as regards to when the sought for facility would be built.

Taking his turn Group Village Headman Chisi said it would do them good if government came in the open and told them it has failed to construct the facility rather than bringing empty promises to the people repeatedly.

“My people are tired of these promises so it is better for the health officials to come straight to us and explain that they have failed to help us so that we can sit back and relax instead of waiting for something which will never come to pass,” He explained.

The chief added that they feel government is treating them as if they are not legitimate Malawians.

“I want to remind government that we too are Malawians regardless that we are living in the remote areas and we deserve good health just like our colleagues in the cities and towns,” said the chief.

Responding to the concerns, assistant administrator at Karonga District Health Office (DHO) Wazingwa Munthnali said his offices is committed to providing quality health services to people of Chisi, that is why it deployed a Health Surveyor earlier this year to help fill the gap that existed in the healthy sector of the area.

He also reminded the people that there are issues that his office can handle and others that need approval from Capital Hill, as such he asked them to exercise a little more patience because a proposal for a clinic was sent to Ministry of Health headquarters long time ago.

With a population of more than 10,000 Chisi catchment area has Chikutu Health post, which currently carries out under-five clinic only with adults left to seek medical help from Kaporo or Msumbe Health Centers which are 33 and 20 kilometers away from Chisi respectively.

During the meeting it was revealed that in the last three months ten people have died on the way to either of the two health centers.

Evangelical Association of Malawi’s  HIV-Program Officer for the north Matchona Phiri said his organization has the welfare of people at heart as such it strives to create a platform where local communities can interact with decision makers in various government departments so that people are able to assess progress on issues affecting them.

The organization is carrying out a three-year project, which aims at promoting improved access to adequate social and health care services of 4,200 vulnerable households in the areas of Paramount Chief Kyungu, Traditional Authority Kilipula and Mwakawoko in Karonga district.

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