Minister of Health , Khumbidze Kandodo Chiponda has revealed that Mzuzu Central Hospital operates without Computerised Tomography Scan Machine.
Chiponda revealed the development yesterday when he officially commissioned Computerised Tomography (CT) Scanning Services at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre.
The Minister of Health says although the people in the south and central have the machine at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) respectively , it is worrying that Malawians from the north are expected to travel long distances to access the scanning services.
“As QECH staff and its surrounding districts are now smiling with the coming of the CT Scan, as Minister of Health my joy is short lived to think that I still have people from Chitipa, Karonga, Mzimba, Rumphi who has to travel hundreds of kilometers to access the Services in Lilongwe or Blantyre as the Mzuzu Central Hospital still don’t have CT Scan machine,”
“If we’re to achieve the Universal Health Coverage, we need as a country to start investing in such type of equipments apart from in infrastructure and Human Resources,” Chponda says.
Chiponda says her Ministry is already engaging with different partners and Ministry of Finance to find ways how Government can sources funds to procure CT scan for Mzuzu Central Hospital and also more equipment like MRI scan and many others not only for the central hospitals but even for the District and Community Hospitals.
“It remains one of the top priorities of Tonse Alliance government to ensure that we invest in health sector after decades of no tangible investments in the sector,” she says.
The Health Minister says listening to Hospital Director Dr Samson Ndolo and his Radiology department team one thing came out clear, the CT Scanning services were long overdue, as an integral part of radiology services at QECH and it’s opening today is a huge improvement in both image or status and effectiveness.
