People from Traditional Authority (TA) Dambe in Mchinji District have been hailed for constructing a Health Post and 8 houses for Health workers.
Speaking during an event marking open day into Primary Health Commemoration that took place at Chikoti Ground, T/A Dambe in Mchinji, Director of Heath and Social Services Dr Juliana Kanyengambeta hailed the Community members for the work and called on other communities to emulate what people from Dambe have done.
“There is a general outcry that many health workers especially the Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) are not residing in their respective catchment Areas, so having a community that is taking part in providing accomodation for the health workers is a very good thing for us and we are very happy,” said Kanyengambeta.
On his part, Senior Chief Dambe said each household was asked to contribute K150 for the construction of the houses.
“We told ourselves that we shouldn’t just wait for government to come and develop our Area for us, we can also do it if we come together. So myself and other Chiefs encouraged our subjects to make the contribution which was channelled to this development you’re seeing here.”
“With support and guidance from our Environmental health Officer Joseph Gondwe, we are planning to construct 24 Staff houses and this far we have managed to construct eight, we are hopeful that we will achieve the goals we have set,” said Senior Chief Dambe.
Meanwhile, Gondwe has said about K5 million has been used to construct the houses and the Post.
Also commending the people of Dambe, Board Chairperson for the White Ribbon Alliance Karl Chokotho said the Community has done something unique that is worth emulating.
“Yes they have gotten some assistance from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) but to the larger part, the construction has come through community mobilization so the communities themselves have built these houses and health post,” said Chokotho.
White ribbon alliance which also focuses on safe motherhood, believes the health post will improve primary health care.
The Post is expected to provide services such as immunization for children under five, antenatal and family planning.
