Health centre operates without medical assistant

Communities around Lambulira Health Centre in Senior Chief Chikowi in Zomba District have expressed concern over the absence of a medical assistant at the health facility.

Speaking on Monday at the facility during a media tour organised by National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust to appreciate the milestones of their Deliver Life II Project, the facility’s health management committee chairperson Elijah Khuneya said the situation was bad.

“The one who was here was transferred to another health facility on July 24 this year. We have been struggling to access healthcare services since there has been no replacement,” he said.

Lambulira Health Centre Management Committee member Elufe Tchika said the situation is forcing communities to access healthcare services at Sadzi, Pirimiti, Magomero and Mayaka health centres.

“We spend K9 000 to go to these health facilities. The situation has affected pregnant women because they are forced to go to these health facilities for services,” she said.

When contacted, Zomba District Health Office health promotion officer Arnold Mndalira said they know the issue and they are planning to deploy the medical assistant.

“We would have done that a long time ago, but the problem was that the house of the medical assistant was damaged and we wanted to rehabilitate it first,” he said.

Mndalira said they have proposed that the new medical assistant start commuting to the health centre by motorcycle.

In his remarks, Zomba Nice civic education officer Kondwani Neba said they were implementing Deliver Life II Project to help reduce maternal and neonatal deaths, so the absence of a medical assistant is a setback.

With funding from the Scottish Government, Scottish Water and Water-Aid UK through WaterAid Malawi, Nice has been implementing the project from 2018 to 2023.