By Chikondi Manjawira
This is the story on how Mapata, Soliyati Group Headman, Traditional Authority (T.A) Mpando in the lakeshore district of Mangoch pregnant women cover long distance to access maternity services. This contravenes Universal Health Coverage which being champion in developing nations, Malawi include.
Our reporter Chikondi Manjawira takes the readers through how painful pregnant women are enduring in rural areas to access health facilities.
A 35 year old Alice Sani, married with six children still suffers the hurdle of having no health facility close to her home.
Sani had her 7th pregnancy when she met her misfortune on the night of 22nd August this year.
Labour signs started. She was with the help of fellow villagers put on Stretcher (now malfunction) to take her to Koche Community Hospital which is about 27 Kilometers away from her village Mapata, Traditional Authority (T.A) Mpando in Mangochi to deliver her preciously expected 7th baby.
In mid of the way, a car which the villagers had earlier asked for from the owner of the CPL, company which produces cement just a few Kilometers away from Mapata village arrived.
Sani had already lost her baby by then due to unsteady condition she was in contributed by the long distance bumpy dusty road to reach Koche Comunity Hospital.
The only hospital women from Mapata and Soliyati access maternity services. Group Village Head Mapata has witnessed over 15 stillbirths this year alone.
This is happening at a time when there is a ban of traditional maternity services (Uzamba).
“I was pregnant as usual and when the date was due, I was in pain and helpless to the extent that I became unconscious on the way to the hospital. When we reached the hospital, I was told my unborn baby was dead and operation was necessary to remove the still born out of my womb. This was the time thought maternity services were a must at Mapata Health Post so that my fellow women would not face what I experienced.
“The problem is the Stretcher is old and malfunctions. Whenever we have such cases like women in labour pain or patients in serious condition, we borrow bicycle tyres to fix the on the stretcher so that we carry our female /patients to the hospital.
It is time consuming and to cover the distance from here to Koche hospital on a Stretcher. Most of the times people die along the way and our women deliver before we reach the hospital while others lose their unborn babies that way,” explained, GVH Mapata.
Group Village Soliyati shares the problems his people face as a result of having no hospital nearby and not owning an ambulance to ferry patients in serious condition to Koche Community hospital.
However, we have Mapata health Post which has one Health Surveillance Assistant and does not meet all people’s health needs since it is not a full health facility.
At Mapata health post one can access a number of services such as under-Five clinic, Family planning Immunization, First basic health care and ante-natal clinic.
GVH Soliyati further said that Malaria is the commonly found disease in the area and that there is a need for a full operational health facility considering that Malaria attacks both young and the old who deserves their right to access good health services.
“My people do come here at Mapata Health Post with hope to access any health care treatment they would want. Most of them feel ignored or neglected when they are not being properly assisted because they simply do not understand this is not a full hospital where our HSA can deal with some of our health problems.
“We would want to ask government to think of us, provide us with an ambulance, a community hospital and enough medical personnel. Right now we have one HSA who alone cannot manage to go around two village heads and properly check on people or make follow ups on everyone,” he added.
Located about 27 Kilometres away from Koche Community hospital, Mapata health Post covers two Group Village Heads of Mapata and Soliyati T.AMponda in Mangochi district.
Stevie Mwale is the only HSA at Mapata health Post serving about 3004 people in the 12 villages of GVH Mapata and Soliyati in the T.A Mponda in Mangochi district.
This is against the World Health Organization recommended doctor/patient ratio of 1: 1000 hence the need to recruit more human resource for health.
Mwale commutes from Maldeco and covers 27 kilometres to and back from his health post daily, contributing to poor service delivery.
A situation that makes Mapata Health Post operate two days in a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) in order to meet the HSA for medical guidance.
Therefore, anyone who falls sick in any other day, has to wait for the said scheduled days to be checked or treated by the HSA.