By Pauline Kaude:
Malomo Health Centre in Traditional Authority Chilookos area in Ntchisi District has become the first Health Centre in the district to start offering in-patient services.
Ntchisi Director of Health and Social Services, Dr Lumbani Munthali said during the launch of the in-patient services at the facility that with a catchment population of about 50,000 people, the in-patient services will help in reducing congestion at the district hospital.
According to Munthali, people from Malomo and the surrounding areas were covering long distances to access in-patient services at the district hospital located thirty kilometres away.
He said the in-patient services that will be offered at the facility will be admissions for pediatrics as well as male and female patients in addition to the other services that were offered such as outpatient, maternity, family planning, immunization, under five clinic and HIV Testing Services.
“The three wards were constructed some years ago under the Malomo Rural Growth Centre but were not being used because both the Medical Council of Malawi and Nurses and Midwives Council of Malawi made several recommendations for them to be certified.
“After rehabilitating the wards, the Medical Council re-inspected the facility on April 4 this year and allowed us to start the in-patient services,” said Munthali.
He further said Malomo Health Centre will also serve other health facilities under it namely Chinguluwe, Chasolo, Chandawe and Malambo.
Ntchisi North Member of Parliament, Arnold Kadzanja under whose constituency Malomo falls said he was excited that people in his constituency will now be able to access in-patient services right from within their area.
He said people in the area have been requesting for transport from him to ferry patients to and from the district hospital and in worse situations when the patients died, he has had to provide transport to ferry the remains to their respective homes.
“This is good news to myself as well as my constituents. For a long time, people in my area have had to spend a lot of money to travel to Ntchisi District Hospital to access these services hence this is a relief to all of us,” said Kadzanja.
Ntchisi District Council Chairperson, Frackson Sefasi said the fact that the readily available common means of transport in the area are motor cycle taxis popularly known as Kabaza made it even more difficult to transport patients and dead bodies.
He said as a council they will make sure that they construct other structures like a mortuary, theatre, kitchen among other structures to upgrade Malomo Health Centre to a community hospital.
