By Maston Kaiya

Ntcheu, February 24, Mana: Communities in the area of Sub Traditional Authority (STA) Tsikulamowa in Ntcheu have said the construction of the staff house at Manjawira Health Centre in the district is a blessing to the locals for accessing timely medical treatment.

Chairperson for STA Tsikulamowa Area Development Committee (ADC) Marmathy Wasimbwa said the house will reduce the burden of late medical care where, in some cases, patients could die from preventable deaths.

Wasimbwa said the facility in Charge was travelling about two kilometres daily to attend to patients hence challenging the provision of quality health care.

"The house is timely as the medical assistant will be at our doorstep. In the past, patients could easily die due to the absence of a house as he was renting within the communities," she said.

However, Wasimbwa has called on the communities to provide security for the personnel while serving the area.

Manjawira health centre In-charge Innocent Kabudula has expressed his excitement, saying the house was long overdue.

"We work 24 hours to provide medical treatment to patients. However, the work was sometimes compromised due to the absence of the house," he said.

Kabudula has since called on the authorities to construct additional staff houses, stating that a workforce of over 20, which includes nurses and support staff, stay in rented houses.

He said the facility serves a catchment population of at least 7,528 people.

Ntcheu District Council has constructed Manjawira Health Centre staff house at a total cost of K57 million from the World Bank-funded Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project.

The project is facilitated by the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Local Government Finance Committee(NLGFC) as key lead partners.