Tambala Health Centre project in limbo

Lack of documentation has led to the stalling of the Tambala Health Centre project in Ntcheu.

Speaking last Friday at Bilila during a meeting organised by the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), Ntcheu Bwanje South member of Parliament Goodwin Kanjere (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP) said Tambala Health Centre construction started during former president Joyce Banda’s regime and project materials were being procured and delivered by the State House through the then presidential advisor on religious affairs Reverend Malani Mtonga.

“Tambala Health Centre is a big project that even Constituency Development Fund [CDF] is not enough to complete it. Since People’s Party [PP] lost the 2014 elections, the project stopped,” he said.

Kanjere said he asked Ministry of Health and Population Services to complete the PP project but he was told there is no record of the hospital in the government system.

“The then Minister of Health [Peter Kumpalume] visited the facility and told me that, perhaps, State House was constructing a private hospital because for a clinic to be constructed, the District Health Office must know and provide architectural plans and supervision,” he said.

Ntcheu district health officer (DHO) Mike Chisema said he has no knowledge of the said Tambala Health Centre.

“Whenever people want to donate a hospital, we refer them to Ministry of Health and Population Services Planning Department which advises on the architectural plans and in turn gives us information to keep in our records and for supervision purposes,” he said. n