By JULIUS PHIRI –
HEALTH Minister Joseph Kasonde yesterday flagged off the construction of 650 health posts that will be constructed in different parts of the
country to enhance quality health service delivery.
The flagging off of the construction of the health facilities was held at Katambo Village in Chipata District in Eastern Province.
Dr Kasonde said the Government would continue to build health posts not only in Chipata but across the country for the betterment of the
people.
The health posts to be constructed would be equipped with essential drugs, solar systems and staff deployed immediately after the construction.
He said construction of 57 health posts in Eastern Province was expected to gobble up at about K36.2 million.
The minister said 1,958 health facilities in the country were functioning.
Out of that figure, 307 are health posts while 1,131 are rural health centres. Eastern Province has 207 functioning facilities.
Dr Kasonde said the province had eight level one hospitals, 143 rural health centres and 49 health posts with a total population of 1.8
million people.
He said the health facilities were still inadequate to access primary healthcare services among the people in the province.
The minister said construction of health posts in the country was in line with the Government’s commitment to bring health services
closer to the people.
Dr Kasonde said he was aware that incidences of malaria in the province had reduced from 614 in 2012 to 537 per 1,000 in 2013.
He said 50,000 people are currently receiving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) in the province.