By Solister Mogha

Zomba, August 3, Mana: Minister of Information and Digitalization, Moses Kunkuyu has said government was committed to improving provision of health services through construction of health centres.

Speaking during the opening of Khanda Health Centre in Zomba on Thursday, Kunkuyu who represented responsible Minister Khumbize Chiponda said provision of quality health services was one of the government's priorities.

The Minister said to ensure that health quality services are adequately administered, three elements must be made and these are high standard equipment, quality facility and qualified staff.

"It is our quest that we provide better and quality health services to all Malawians regardless of colour, region and status.

"There are plans to construct 900 health centers across the country but this will require concentrated efforts from both local and international stakeholders,” Kunkuyu added.

He said the new Khanda Health Centre would reduce death and long distances that people were travelling to access health services.

"Let me appeal to the community around the health centre to take care of the facility so that today and next generations should benefit.

“We will continue to provide all the necessary support including well trained nurses and doctors,” Kunkuyu said.

He hailed Village In Partnership (VIP) for mobilizing resources and constructing the health centre.

VIP Country Director, Wellings Mwalabu said his organization was forced to construct a health centre having seen the challenges that community members were facing in accessing health services.

"When we started implementing our activities we noticed the need for a health facility. We therefore started with mobile clinic and today, we have a full health centre," he pointed out.

Mwalabu said his organization would continue supporting people of Khanda and complementing government efforts in providing quality health services.

Apart from the health centre, VIP has constructed five staff houses.

Traditional Authority (TA) Nkagula said the health centre would serve thousands of families and reduce number of maternal death.

Khanda Health Centre will be serving a population of 13, 000 and Zomba District Council now has 33 health centres.