Mwachisompola clinic underutilised - Kaseba
Mwachisompola clinic underutilised - KasebaBy Mukosha Funga in Chibombo
Tue 04 Dec. 2012, 09:20 CAT
FIRST lady Dr Christine Kaseba has expressed disappointment that Mwachisompola health centre in Chibombo district is being underutilised.
Meanwhile, Chibombo district medical officer Dr Pricilla Chisha says the centre needs to be elevated to hospital status.
Speaking when she toured the facility on Saturday, Dr Kaseba said she was disappointed with the operations of the centre.
After checking records in the labour ward, she discovered that an average of eight deliveries per month were carried out at the centre.
"It is a shame; that means you are only having one delivery per day. Where are the other women going? This place is supposed to cater for about 9,000 people in this catchment. Even the donors who put in funds to renovate this place would be very disappointed," she said.
Dr Kaseba said the fact that people went to Liteta Hospital instead meant there was more pressure there.
"We need to reduce pressure on the other facilities. Find a way of ensuring that people should also be coming here. Have specific diseases that can only be treated here so that this place should become busy. It is not right to have a facility that is not being utilised to its full capacity. It is better to close it at this rate," said Dr Kaseba.
But Dr Chisha appealed to the government to speed up the process of upgrading the centre into a hospital.
She also appealed for recruitment of more health workers as there were currently only five nurses at the facility.
Dr Chisha assured Dr Kaseba that her concerns would be taken into consideration.
"We are going to carry out a research and do a comprehensive report on why people prefer going elsewhere and we will find solutions of how to bring more people here," said Dr Chisha.
During the tour, only one woman was admitted in the ward with her baby and only one man was in the male ward in a centre that is supposed to service about 9000 people.
Labels: CHRISTINE KASEBA, HEALTHCARE
posted by MrK @ 5:24 PM
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