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Press Trust donates K2m towards Mother’s Fun Run

 

Press Trust yesterday raised concern over the failure to maintain equipment in public hospitals.

Speaking after donating K2 million in Lilongwe towards this year’s Mother’s Fun Run initiative by Nation Publications Limited (NPL), the trust’s acting executive secretary Gibson Ngalamila said a number of stakeholders have donated to public hospitals to  help government solve the ever increasing health sector woes.

Banda (R) receives a cheque from Ngalamila

He said Press Trust trustees keep raising concerns over the piling up of equipment that was donated to facilities such as Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre.

Ngalamila said this is counterproductive because instead of moving forward, the health facilities will keep asking for the same assistance.

“Our trustees, when they visit facilities where we have donated, they find heaps of equipment not functioning because of lack of maintenance and they get concerned,” he said.

This year’s Mother’s Fun Run seeks to raise K150 million to address maternal health issues at QECH and surrounding health facilities.

NPL chief executive officer Mbumba Banda agreed with Ngalamila on the issue of maintenance of medical equipment in public hospitals, saying the tendency is counterproductive.

She said some health facilities fail to maintain the equipment they get from well-wishers.

Banda, however, said the first thing to do was to donate and then, as a media house, use its means to sensitise public institutions to the importance of taking good care of things received from well-wishers.

She recalled having seen some donated equipment not functioning at Ndirande Health Centre recently while she spent a night there alongside other female executives to appreciate problems faced in the maternity section. n

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