Lunte Council urged to procure equipment for health projects
Northern Province Permanent Secretary, Bernard Mpundu has directed Lunte Town Council to ensure that it budgets for the procurement of necessary equipment when constructing health centres.
Mr Mpundu said the local authority needs to provide materials such as beds and water at new health centres.
The Permanent Secretary said this when he inspected Kabosha Rural Health, which was constructed using the 2022 Constituency Development Fund (CDF), but discovered that it was working without a complement of vital equipment.
He said it would be important for the local authority to ensure that such materials are planned for when embarking on construction work.
"It must have water, at least a bed or two, just in case there are our women who might want to be observed throughout the night, and also, just in case we have our women in labor, they may have their own separate rooms with the necessary tools." He said.
" President Hakainde Hichilema has directed that when you go to develop an infrastructure such as a school or health facility, it must come as a full package." He said.
Mr Mpundu has also hailed Lunte Town Council for constructing five rural health facilities using CDF.
He expressed happiness with the leadership of the District Commissioner, Council Secretary, and Council Chairperson and encouraged them to continue working together.
And Lunte District Health Director, Cornwell
Hinyama Miyanda, said the Department of Health has five facilities that have been built using CDF but do not have equipment.
Dr Miyanda, noted that the situation is making it difficult to offer services to the people.
"We want to ask through the Ward Development Committees in the different areas where the health facilities are to consider making a submission to procure the required equipment so that the services are delivered fully." Said Dr Miyanda.
He has, however, thanked the government for recruiting more health workers, stating it has cautioned about the shortage of manpower in the health facilities.
"We have at least two health workers in each of the health facilities, which has really helped in service delivery." He said.
And Lunte District Commissioner, Joseph Chilando has thanked the Permanent Secretary and Provincial Administration for always promoting development and considering Lunte in many developmental projects.
"We are always happy when we receive people from the province, as they help us and nurture us by giving us advice on how we can best run our new district." Said Mr Chilando.