Written by Tiyanjane Nandie Mambucha
Deputy Minister for Health, Chrisse Kalamula Kanyasko, says the Tonse government is committed to finishing the construction of the Mponela Community Hospital.
Speaking in Dowa on Friday after inspecting the two hospitals and visiting the proposed site for Dowa district hospital, she said the progress for the construction is slow but expressed hope that the work will speed up when all the allocated resources are given to the contractors.
“In Mponela the construction commenced in 2019, the foundation part is done but we still have a long way to go. As government, we are committed to seeing this hospital completed within three years,” she said.
She said in the new budget they have allocated one billion kwacha for the hospital and they are processing 300 Million kwacha which will be available in a month or two.
During the inspection, she also noted that the two hospitals are dilapidated and are facing many challenges in their day to day operations.
She therefore said the only solution is to have a new and big hospital in the district that will accommodate the growing population.
Dowa district Director of Health and Social Services, Dr. Peter Makoza, said the Deputy Minister’s visit was to appreciate service delivery of the two health facilities and inspect the construction of the new community hospital in Mponela.
“The services provided by the two health facilities are preventive, curative, rehabilitative, palliative and promotive,” he said.
He said all health facilities in the district are important but Mponela is peculiar in a way that it is along M1 road and in between Lilongwe and Kasungu.
He therefore said the hospital being the only government hospital along the M1 road, it carters for travelers, vendors at the Mponela trading center and Mponela community as a whole.
Dr. Makoza further said Mponela Rural hospital is old and was built to serve only 3000 people but currently it is serving more than 100, 000 people.
He expressed hope that the new hospital will be big with good equipment for better and quality health services.
Speaking earlier, Project Manager for DEC Construction Limited, Ellard Malonda said the project is a MK7.9 Billion project and only half a million kwachas was disbursed in the year 2019 hence slowing down the progress of the construction of the community hospital.
Dowa district hospital and Mponela Rural hospital serve 900,000 people despite having a major challenge of Frequent stockouts of drugs and medicine.
