Maravi

MP condemns purchase of mobile clinics

MP condemns purchase of mobile clinics
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Wed 26 Jan. 2011, 04:01 CAT

A PF parliamentarian regrets the government’s decision to procure mobile clinics despite the people’s call for the strengthening of the country’s already existing health facilities.

Commenting on the mobile clinics which have now arrived in the country, Mandevu parliamentarian Jean Kapata said the MMD government was adamant over the procurement of mobile hospitals. She wondered how the clinics would be moving because most roads in the country were in a bad state.

“Just in Nakonde, the road between Mpika and Nakonde is extremely bad. How do they expect these mobile clinics to move on this road? The lifespan of these clinics will be very short and they won’t last,” she said.

Kapata, who is also health parliamentary committee chairperson, said the mobile clinics would at one time be grounded just as the vehicles for the Keep Lusaka Clean campaign were parked.

“They are now just parked and not even one is moving. The same will happen to the mobile clinics,” she said.

Kapata wondered if the government had put in place measures to ensure that there were enough doctors and nurses for the mobile clinics.

“This is a mockery and I condemn it very much because the government does not listen. If they had listened to people, this would not have happened. People want medicine in health centres. Right now there are shortages of drugs in health centres and there is a shortage of a TB drug, which is crucial for people living with HIV and AIDS. This is what people want, not mobile hospitals,” she said.

Kapata urged the government to pay attention to the concerns that people were raising on various governance issues if the country was to develop.

Last year, a cross section of society opposed the procurement of mobile hospitals on grounds that the country’s health sector was faced with numerous challenges and the road infrastructure was in a poor state.

They proposed that the government addresses the current problems in the sector but the government insisted on procuring the mobile hospitals for all the country’s nine provinces using a loan obtained from China.

Labels: JEAN KAPATA, MOBILE HOSPITALS

posted by MrK @ 3:11 PM