Kapeni gets dream health centre

When Malawians hear “Blantyre”, what quickly comes to mind is Malawi’s commercial capital. However, the long wait for a public health centre in rural communities along the northern margins of the city, which was founded by Scottish missionaries in 1876, exposes gaps in service delivery that a performance-based grants seek to address, our corresopondent TEMWA MHONE reports: Lunzu Trading Centre is roughly 20 kilometers from Blantyre City, but far from rural communities that depend on its sole public health centre in life-and-death conditions. This sums up the plight of Malawians in Senior Chief Kapeni’s territory, who have never had a public health facility since time immemorial.

For years, 65 villages on the outskirts of Malawi’s commercial city have endured long trips to Lirangwe Health Centre in Traditional Authority Lundu or Mlambe Mission Hospital at Lunzu, where they had to pay for life-saving services. Senior Chief Kapeni said his subjects have been struggling to access health care. “We lived between a rock and a hard place due to long travels to these facilities, plus out-of-pocket fees at Mlambe.

Those who cannot afford the hospital trips often seek medical assistance when the illness gets out of hand. Some died of treatable diseases,” says the traditional leader. In 2011, the deadly delays to access healthcare compelled the Blantyre District Health Office to rent a house at Lunzu Trading Centre to provide free healthcare for the out-of-town community.

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“It was heartbreaking to witness a woman losing her child outside my court because of the long distance,” recalls Kapeni. “I was moved to engage healthcare authorities at Capital Hill and Blantyre District Council until they repurposed the house at Lunzu to reduce preventable deaths.” Group village head Mtema says the 15-year-old clinic brought short-lived relief, as it remains far from villages where a majority of the target population lives. He states: “The good thing is that it was free unlike Mlambe, but we had to walk long distances to get treatment, care and support.

So, it was still costly for us. “We needed a health facility in our rural settings. After all, Lunzu Health Centre was always overwhelmed by market users and surrounding communities, not the far-flung villagers.” Besides, people from well-served areas took advantage of market days to get free medicine from the facility, worsening frustrating stock-outs of medicines and essential supplies.

In 2014, Blantyre District Council started constructing Kadidi Health Centre in Mtema Village, a central locality, for easy access to health care services. Kapeni recalls: “Construction was abandoned due to Cashgate [the massive plunder of public resources at Capital Hill]. We pushed hard in 2019, but there were no funds available at the council.”

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