Head of Mission from Embassy of Iceland to Malawi Inga Petursdottir on Monday described construction of comprehensive emergency obstetrics and neonatal facility at Makanjira health centre in Mangochi as a beacon of hope for over 120,000 inhabitants of Makanjira.
Speaking during a groundbreaking ceremony of the facility by President Lazarus Chakwera, Pertursdottir said once completed the facility will provide lifesaving services to mothers and children in Makanjira a hard to reach area of over 100 kilometers away from Mangochi Boma.
‘‘The government of Iceland has been a steadfast partner to Malawi for 35 years with the guiding light of ‘leaving no one behind’.
“As such construction of Makanjira state of the art maternity ward is a clear testimony to the effort of providing health care access to people living in hard-to-reach areas and is one of the pillar stones of Iceland funded health programming in Mangochi,’’ she said.
‘‘As Iceland government, we observed that communities in Makanjira were facing limited access to essential health services resulting in significant number of maternal and neonatal mortalities. With an operating theatre, the mothers with obstetric complications will no longer have to seek services at Mangochi district hospital,” she said.
Petursdottir said Iceland has previously supported Malawi in improving social service delivery in Mangochi with construction of maternity wing at Mangochi District Hospital, Monkey Bay Community Hospital, as well as construction of 28 health posts in rural areas.
Speaking earlier, Senior Chief Makanjira thanked the State President for travelling on road from Mangochi Boma to the area, a distance of over 100 kilometers, in order for him to appreciate the condition of the road.
The road from Mangochi Boma to Makanjira is in bad state following the effects of Tropical Cyclone Freddy that damaged most of bridges of the road.
In his remarks, Member of Parliament for Mangochi North Constituency, Benedicto Chambo commended Chakwera for the project of extending Makanjira health centre, saying more women and children were dying on the road on their way to access maternal services at Mangochi District Hospital.
‘‘Most women have have been delivering on the road and others have died on their way to Mangochi hospital, due to the long distance to the hospital, as well as unavailability of most crucial services at Makanjira health centre.’’
‘‘As such, the coming in of the antenatal, labour and post-natal wards at our health facility will help us to avoid going to Mangochi Boma, as we will be served right here in our area,’’ said Chambo.
Construction of the new Makanjira maternity will include a life-saving operating theatre, antenatal, labour and post-natal wards as well as a high dependency unit for newborns. Supporting buildings will be laboratory, ex-ray room, mortuary, office block and laundry room.
Reported By Bishop Witmos
