By Sheminah Nkhoma

Lilongwe, September 3, Mana: Member of Parliament for Ntchisi East Benard Chikwete, has expressed concern over the delayed completion of health centres in his constituency highlighting that people are facing difficulties in accessing health services.

He made the remarks during the Parliamentary session on Tuesday in Lilongwe, through supplementary questions to the Minister of Health.

Chikwete said the Ministry should consider finishing up the construction of the Chafubwa health centre because the main hospital in the constituency is located far where other people fail to go.

“Since 2013 the Health centre has not been completed. It is my plea to the Ministry that it should consider finishing it so that people must not travel long distances to access health services,” he said.

In her response, Minister of Health  Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said she is aware of the facility and that the government has approached the health sector joint fund for assistance whereby they agreed and that the completion will commence as they now have funds for the project.

“The health centre has been abandoned for a long time as it is a very hard place to reach which is a sad development as women and children have to walk long distances to get health services,” said Chiponda.

She further said, it is the wish of the ministry that the health center should be large enough to accommodate all patients in the area.

“We are going to finish up what already started, then we are going to build an extra centre so that all services should be found there”, she added.

The minister assured Malawians that her Ministry will address challenges in the health sector as so far they have recruited more health workers across the country so that people should have quality health care.