District Commissioner for Mzimba Thomas Chirwa has backed the recent Mamaye Report that 19 babies die before they reach 28 days every month while two women die every month due to maternal related complications.
According to Mamaye Report on Health Budget Transparency Assessment in the district, 44 babies are born every day and 19 die because of poor health service delivery at the main hospital and 31 health centres within Mzimba South.
Speaking in an in interview with The Daily Times yesterday, Chirwa said the deaths are an open secret explaining that for the previous three months, the council got insufficient funds from Treasury.
Chirwa said the Treasury misallocated the funds meant for the district because currently it is receiving allocation of unknown district that has small population.
He said Mzimba District Hospital is getting K3.6 million out of the normal K15 million per month, while Mzimba North gets K1.7 million out of initial K7 million.
“The report is quite true that 19 babies die every month and not only that figure, because some patients are just dying in the hospital. The hospital authorities cannot refer the patients to Mzuzu Central Hospital because all ambulances are grounded. No funds for fuel or other health activities. How do you expect us to do well? Chirwa queried.
He added: “We reported the anomalies to the Treasury but the response we got was that we should be patient until they solve the problem. We know that government will correct the mistake but how are we going to control the situation now?”
Spokesperson to the Treasury, Nations Msowoya, confirmed the misallocation of funds but said they are working to it. Msowoya said the Treasury has rectified the problem and that normal allocations to M’mbelwa District Council will be provided in the new budget.
Meanwhile, Chirwa said, doctors ask guardians to look for transport when they are referred to Mzuzu Central Hospital.
He said his office wrote different stakeholders for support but no one has shown interest to help apart from some members of Parliament who send their vehicles for specific people.
He, therefore, called for immediate support from other stakeholders to help the hospital in order to save lives of innocent children and other patients.
Leave a Reply