By MIRIAM ZIMBA –

THE kerosene operated fridge at Kalindawalo Rural Health Centre (RHC) in Senior Chief Kalindawalo of Petauke in Eastern Province has been non-functional for more than six months now.

This situation has resulted in health workers at the centre making weekly visits to the district health offices at Petauke Boma, about 30 kilometres away to collect vaccines.

This is because the storage of bulk vaccines in the fridge is not possible due to the malfunctioning of the fridge.

Nurse in-charge at Kalindawalo RHC Rabson Mwanza explains that the lack of a functional fridge at the health centre has negatively affected health service provision.

“We are forced to go to the district office about 30 kilometres away to collect vaccines on a weekly basis,” he said.

This situation has further been compounded by lack of electricity connectivity in the area, making it difficult for certain clinical procedures to be carried out at the health centre especially during the night.

“If we had electricity, we would be able to store adequate supplies of vaccines instead of having to always rush to the district offices when we run out of supplies on a weekly basis. This has greatly affected our coverage in terms of vaccination and we have a situation where people come with assault cases and these require vaccines such a tetanus toxide. But since we do not have a fridge, we are forced to refer such cases even when we are able to handle them here,” he explained.

Mr Mwanza noted that even simple clinical procedures such as working on wounds in the night have proved to be a major challenge due to lack of electricity for lighting purposes.

“We are sometimes forced to refer very simple cases, and we feel that we make unjustifiable referrals because we do not have electricity to offer quality health care,” he said.

Previously, the RHC was incurring huge costs in procuring 20 litres of kerosene per month to operate the fridge.

He explained that because the centre is spacious and has a catchment population of about 16,618 people, but by head-count, it is about 19,000 people.

Mr Mwanza he regretted that the centre is being under used due to its limited capacity owing to the lack of electricity.

Mr Mwanza saide the connection of electricity to the area will enhance health service delivery and would pave way for the possible construction of a laboratory to improve medical diagnosis of various ailments.

“We will then be able to run laboratory tests such as full-blood count, malaria tests,” he said.

Mr Mwanza also noted that conducting deliveries for expectant mothers in the night has also proved to be a major challenge due to inadequate lighting.

He said once the Kaulu rural electrification project by the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) is commissioned, a total of five staff houses for the five staff members working at the centre, and the clinic buildings will immediately benefit from electricity connections.

Commenting on staff shortage, Mr Mwanza said the RHC only has one nurse, one midwife, an environmental health technician, and supporting staff.

He appealed to the Government to consider recruiting and deploying more health personnel to the area in order to improve health service