Residents complain of lack of health workers to run a Rural Health Centre

Residents in Simango community area in Kazungula district have complained of lacking serious health workers to run the affairs of the Simango Rural Health Centre.

The residents explained that the centre is not operating normally because it is opened at 12:00 hours and at times 14:00 hours instead of 08:00 hours during normal working hours.

This came to light at a community meeting which was addressed by Katombola Member of Parliament Derrick Livune over the weekend.

Residents in the area unanimously agreed and suggested to the area Member of Parliament that it was better the Rural Health Centre is closed until new officers are deployed in the area adding that the ones working there have failed to deliver because they are not dedicated to duty.

Headman Samuel Kopolo noted with sadness that the health workers are not doing the government work that they were employed and getting paid for but instead concentrate on doing farming.

Kopolo mentioned that he was disappointed that a named health worker at the clinic refused to attend to him when he got sick recently until after 11:00 hours.

And Simango Ward Councilor Fackson Inonge confirmed that what was happening at the clinic was a total disaster and needed serious attention from the District Medical Office.

Meanwhile, United Party for National Development (UPND) District Chairman-Political Elias Muluwa said the community members in the area are not happy with the state of affairs because they are denied health care services.

Muluwa said the situation at the clinic was worrisome because patients are not attended to in most of the times and wondered what the relevant authority was doing about it.

Katombola Member of Parliament assured the residents in the area that he would get down to root cause of the problem and find out exactly what was wrong with the health workers at the centre.

A check by ZANIS at the clinic between 16 and 17 hours discovered that windows were open but there were no health workers nor patients found at the scene.