By Chisomo Phiri
Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has assured people in northern region that her Ministry is trying all possibilities for Mzuzu Central Hospital to have Computerized Tomography (CT) scanning machine after the hospital stay longer without the machine.
Mzuzu Central hospital is said to have no CT machine over the years which makes it difficult for the patients to be scanned hence forcing them to travel from Mzuzu to Blantyre and Lilongwe for such scanning services.
Speaking on Tuesday at Mzuzu Central hospital Chiponda promised that her Ministry is engaging with different partners including the Ministry of Finance to find ways on how they can source funds to procure CT scan for Mzuzu Central hospital and other equipment like MRI scan and many others. She said the materials will not be only for central hospital but also for District and Community Hospital.
” Tonight am delighted to report to you my bosses from Northern region that a new CT scanner has been offloaded at Mzuzu Central Hospital ready to be assembled together and installed when the room under construction is completed” Said Chiponda.
On 8th December 2020 the Minister also officially commissioned the Computerized Tomography (TC) scanning services at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre where she said she was very concerned that there was no CT scan services in the northern region forcing people from Chitipa, Karonga, Mzimba and Rumphi to travel hundreds of kilometers to access the services in Lilongwe or Blantyre.
The Minister said that if we are to achieve the Universal Health Coverage, we as a country need to start investing in such type of equipment apart from investing in infrastructure and Human Resources.
“It remains one of the top priorities of Tonse Alliance administration to ensure that we invest in Health sector after decades of no tangible investment in the sector.
She further promised to keep engaging more partners including Ministry of Finance for more medical equipment for hospitals both at district level and central Hospitals level.
The Mzuzu Central Hospital scanner has been made possible with the assistance from the peoples of Republic of China.
