Member of parliament for Machinga North East Ajiru Kalitendele has asked Government through the Ministry of Health to provide medicines to Nyambi Health Centre and Mkwepele Health Post which he says have no medicines.
Kalitendele made the plea to the Minister of Health on Friday in parliament.
According to Kalitendele, some of the health centres in his constituency do not have medicines and when people go there for medical help they are told to buy medicine at the pharmacy.
“Lack of medicine in these hospitals is a very bad situation because my constituency is at the border. Medicines are very expensive at pharmacies and these are local people who even hardly get money to pay for their medication so it’s a bad situation.
“Actually, it’s a thing which has been there for a long time I can say now it’s almost 4 or 5 months and today someone called me, he was at Liwonde and he has been told to buy the medicine from the pharmacy,” said Kalitendele.
Responding to Kalitendele, Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said they are aware of the situation and right now Treasury has released about K3 billion for procurement of different medicines and medical supplies.
Chiponda said these medicines will be distributed to all hospitals across the country.
She added that Government of India has also supplied the Government of Malawi with essential medicines and medical supplies worth K1 billion.
Kalitendele in Parliament also asked the Minister of Health to consider constructing a health post in group village headman Ndindi under Traditional Authority Sale in his constituency saying it is the only TA which does not have a health post in Machinga District.
Member of Parliament for Nsanje Central Kafandikhale Mandevana also asked the Minister of Health to consider constructing a health centre at Thondo and at Miliyoni and to upgrade Misamvu health post to a health centre so that people can access the medical services within the area.
According to Mandevana, they cannot manage to construct a health centre using Constituency Development Fund or any funds from the council and that’s why they are asking the Ministry of Health to consider constructing the said health centres.
“At the moment, people travel a long distance, I can say from Thondo to a nearest health centre which is Tengani it is about 20 kilometres, from Misamvu to the nearest hospital which is Kalemba and at Bangula it’s about 25 kilometres. So if we can provide them with Health centres they will benefit a lot because they will be able to access the medical services within the area,” said Mandevana.
In his response, Chiponda said they will send a team to assess in the areas and she will give a concrete response after the assessment is done.
