By Andrew Mkonda

Lilongwe, September 11, Mana: Community members from Senior Chief Mazengela in Lilongwe have expressed excitement with the construction of Chigodi Out Patient Department (OPD) and water supply in the area.

The K85 million health facility has been constructed with funds from the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project and is expected to serve a population of over 23,000 people.

Speaking Tuesday in an interview, Councilor for Mazengela ward Edward Simoko said the construction of the health facility is a dream come true for people in the community.

“We thank the government together with our Member of Parliament Eisenhower Mkaka for the initiative which will ease the long distances that people in the area were covering to access health services at Kamphata and Nkhoma health centres respectively,” he said.

Another community member Grace Kathumba said the facility will enable women to access the antenatal and under-five services.

“We are so happy with the coming in of this health facility because it will enable us to meet clinicians regularly and learn more on issues of family planning,” she said.

Member of Parliament for the area Eisenhower Mkaka said he is committed to bring health service delivery closer to the community.

“As you may be aware, the recommended distance from one health centre to the other, is five kilometres, but people from this area have been accessing health services very far from here,” he said.

Lilongwe District Commissioner Dr Lawford Palani said he was pleased to see the completion of the health facility in the area as it will improve people’s access to healthcare services, especially expectant mothers.

“This health post will cover a lot of health issues including nutritional value programmes and under-five clinics. So it is a big achievement to us as a council since this facility will reduce issues of malnutrition in the area,” he said.

Currently, the construction of maternity wing at the health post has also started and is expected to be completed in November this year.

GESD is World Bank funded project which is being implemented by the government through the National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC) in all districts across the country.