CHONGWE COMMUNITY CRY FOR CLINIC

JOHN KOMBE writes@sunzambianACCESS to primary healthcare is critical to the wellbeing of any community, but this eludes the people of Mwashinango village in Chongwe who walk up to 10 kms to the nearest clinic.The village which is situated in Chinkuli ward in Chongwe has not had a clinic since independence prompting residents to come up with a community initiated clinic construction project.Chongwe Member of Parliament, Japhen Mwakalombe who toured the village to appreciate the challenges of the people described the situation as desperate. He stressed that primary healthcare must be as close to the people as possible and acknowledged the challenges that the people were faced with and pledged to support the com-munity initiated clinic project.Mr. Mwakalombe who was touched by the challenge donated 1, 000 building blocks and 50 pockets of cement. He said that this was just the beginning of his support and pledged to support the project until it is completed. He also assured them that he would recommend to the CDF committee to consider allocating funds to the com-munity project.And headwoman Mwashinango observed that the people in her village had suffered enough and as such she ap-pealed to the government to help them complete the community initiated project. She said that the community was prompted to embark on the clinic construction project because they could not continue covering long distances to the nearest clinic.She revealed that the nearest clinic which was about 6 kms away was overwhelmed because of the increasing population in the area. She thanked the lawmaker for the donation and appealed to other well-wishers to em-ulate the gesture and lend a helping hand to the rural community.Meanwhile a resident. Mable Tembo said that the lack of a clinic was not a small problem to underplay. She said that the nearest clinic was not easily accessible in the rainy season due to poor roads. She therefore hoped that the project would be completed soon. The Sun