Mobile Hospitals Elate Beneficiaries in Chongwe

30 April 2011

BENEFICIARIES of Mobile Hospitals in Chongwe have hailed Government for taking the health facilities closer to them.

And Chongwe District Commissioner Japhen Mwakalombe said seven major operations and 19 X-rays had been conducted and tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and some outpatients had been attended to since the national launch of mobile hospitals in Chongwe, bringing the number of those that had benefitted so far to 140.

One of residents whose niece had been operated upon commended the Government for coming up with a great vision for the country that would give people in rural areas access to good health services. Speaking in an interview, Jane Banda said her 13-year-old niece who comes from Kampekete area, 17 kilometers away from Chongwe District had a throat growth operated on using the mobile hospitals. She said beneficiaries of Mobile hospitals and the residents at large were extremely happy that the Government through the Ministry of Health (MoH) has brought health services like theatre, and X-ray to Chongwe, adding that the services would greatly help the people in the area. “We are happy that the mobile hospitals are in the area with enough doctors who are offering health services like Theater and X-ray that were not being offered in Chongwe before.

She also commended government for reducing the burden of expenses and transport to University Teaching Hospital (UTH) as the only theatre referral centre. She said the mobile hospitals had come at the right time because people would no longer deal with the problem they faced when they were being referred to UTH.

She urged the Government to continue with the good health policies they had put in place because they were bearing fruit. And Mr Mwakalombe said all those that were opposed to mobile hospitals were working against people in rural areas. Mr Mwakalombe said mobile hospitals had been the source of joy and hope to the people in rural areas because all those that were being referred to UTH, Chainama and Chelstone clinics would be attended within. “Those opposing mobile hospitals want people in rural areas to die which is not right because every Zambian has the right to good health,” he said. He said the coming of mobile hospitals to Chongwe would ease the provision of health services because people lived far from each other which made it difficult to reach everyone in the past. “Chongwe district is the second largest district and we, therefore, appreciate the provision of mobile hospitals and we are grateful to the Government for choosing our district as a national launch of the facility,” he said. He said all the patients that were operated on were doing fine and had since been discharged from the district hospital. Others that were operated on include Mary Munsaka ,45, of Chilyabale, Edward Phiri, 25, of Chinyunyu, Richard Kaira, 61, of Chongwe and one-year-old Aaron Mibanda of Libuko and four-month-old Isaac Soko of Kakubo.

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