Karonga communities ask MP to upgrade health centre

Communities in Karonga Nyungwe Constituency on Monday asked their member of Parliament (MP) Richard Msowoya to upgrade Nyungwe Health Centre to a rural hospital.

Speaking during a meeting facilitated by National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mwirang’ombe said people from his area are being denied access to healthcare because the facility is failing to meet demand.

“Currently, Nyungwe Health Centre has a catchment area of over 70 000. As a result, most of my subjects are denied access to services such as safe delivery due to inadequate space and delivery beds at the facility,” he said.

Msowoya, who is also Speaker of Parliament and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) vice-president, attributed the delay to upgrade the facility to inadequate resources.

He, however, said resources for the implementation of the project are available.

Said Msowoya: “I am aware it is difficult to upgrade all the required facilities due to inadequate resources. So, I managed to source funds and the project is expected to start in April.”

The meeting was funded by Foundation for Community Support Services (Focus), which is currently implementing a three-year project to scale up access to quality maternal and child health in T/A Mwirang’ombe and Senior Chief Wasambo. n