Malawi lawmakers approve Saudi Fund for Development loan Bill
Malawi Parliament on Tuesday approved the Saud Fund for Development bill, that seeks to borrow about K4.7 billion to finance part of the construction of Phalombe District Hospital.
During presentation of the bill, Minister of Finance Dr Ken Lipenga said Phalombe district is in need of a Government hospital as its residents travel to neighbouring districts to get health services.
According to Lipenga, the project aims at providing medical care to residents living in and around Phalombe; in so doing contributing to the reduction of endemic diseases in the region.
Speaking on behalf of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) the party’s Chief Whip in the house Joseph Njobvuyalema, said the party is in support of any development initiatives that government is implementing in order to improve people living standards.
He said Phalombe is a disaster prone district and it is important for the district to have its own district hospital and hopeful that the construction of the hospital will ease the difficulties people in the district face in accessing health care.
Member of Parliament for Phalombe South Daveson Nyadani said people from the district have suffered for a long time because they rely on mission hospitals that charge money to access health services.
“Since independence, people of Phalombe have suffered because there is no government hospital in the area. People from the district have been relying on Holy Family hospital and other mission hospitals in order to access health services,” he said.
He said this puts a burden on the mission hospitals as they are overwhelmed with patients and do not have adequate staff.
Nyadani added that sometimes people from the area travel to neighbouring districts like Zomba and Mulanje to access health services from government hospitals.
“The demand for a government hospital is long overdue in the district and we hope that with the passing of this bill people will start accessing health care services from the hospital by next year,” he added.
Among others, the loan will finance civil works like construction of hospital buildings, doctors and medical assistants’ houses, supplying medical equipment and furniture plus engineering consultancy services.
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