President announces new ‘One District, One Hospital’ initiative – Mozambique

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

President announces new ‘One District, One Hospital’ initiative – Mozambique

3:02 CAT | 16 Jul 2019

Photo: Noticias

The President of the Republic yesterday announced, in Ile district, Zambézia province, the imminent launch of a new initiative called “One District, One Hospital”, aimed at strengthening the capacity of quality health care and the provision of essential services to the population.

These will be district-level hospitals which, among other conditions, will have at least four basic specialties, including an operating room, orthopaedics, laboratory, radiology and blood bank. The initiative will be phased in over the next five years.

Information that Noticias has had access to indicates that the construction of hospitals of this category in the districts of Molumbo, Pebane and Mopeia will start in Zambézia this year.
At present, only 60 of the 154 districts have access to such hospitals, which save communities from travelling long distances to access services.

The head of state explained that the initiative enjoyed the same philosophy as the “One District, One Bank” programme, and revealed the new initiative when he responded to a request from residents in Socone (Ile) to build an operating theatre in the district headquarters village in order to reduce the costs of travel and other expenses involved in going to health facilities in neighbouring districts such as Gúruè and Mocuba.

Filipe Nyusi said that the government had built social and economic infrastructure to improve the quality of life of the population, but acknowledged that the international situation had limited its capacity to respond. Despite these adversities, the country was resilient and working with internal resources to solve the main problems.

The head of state promised that, while Ile might not acquire a new hospital under the new initiative, Portucel, which is producing eucalyptus in Ile, was going to build an operating block and expand the health network in this part of the country. He had, he said, obtained assurances from Portucel managers in the context of the company’s social responsibility programmes during his recent trip to Portugal.

Before leading a popular rally, the head of state visited the provincial agricultural fair, an event that enjoyed the participation of 70 exhibitors. Speaking afterwards, President Nyusi recognised the agro-ecological potential of the region and called on young people to embrace agriculture in order to increase levels of production and productivity.

Ile’s population also asked the head of state to build a fruit and oil processing plant, to which he replied that, if agricultural production justified it, the government might encourage the private sector to invest in the sector. But agro-processing could not start only to stop a few months later for lack of raw material.

This morning, the President of the Republic is in the district town of Pebane, where he has visits to TAZITA Resources, a mining company, and to the sales market scheduled. In the afternoon, he will guide a session of the provincial government and participate, in the city of Mocuba and in his capacity as president of Frelimo, in a “Red Wave”, a demonstration by social organisations of the party in power.

Source: Noticias