Mozambique: Boane Health Centre short of 1.5 million meticais

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Mozambique: Boane Health Centre short of 1.5 million meticais

5:44 CAT | 18 Jul 2023

On Friday, July 14, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO,) Tedros Gebreyesus, visited the Boane Health Centre. [Image: MISAU]

The Boane Health Centre, a reference health unit in the district of the same name in Maputo province, in southern Mozambique, has a budget deficit of over 1.5 million meticais (about 23,000 dollars at the current exchange rate).

This deficit is hindering the normal course of activities in this health center.

According to the director of the Boane Health Centre, Etelvina Muambe, speaking to AIM on the sidelines of a visit by the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO,) Tedros Gebreyesus, the amount available is insufficient to cover all current expenditures such as the purchase of goods and services, or paying the water and electricity bills.

A new life is a blessing. Touched by the opportunity to meet Fatima Maria Safo and her newborn baby at the Boane health centre.

The centre is not equipped with the best neonatal care. @WHO will support to improve the care so that all babies get a healthy start to life.… pic.twitter.com/AY5YkYUohU

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 14, 2023

“To respond to the goals, the hospital needs at least three million meticais in order to be able to function properly. But the biggest problem is the acquisition of goods and services”, she said, adding that the “the budget is demanding, but all institutions are also currently experiencing the same difficulty as the district services.”

“Daily, we have about 100 to 150 adult and child patients. For paediatric services, we have more or less 50 to 60 daily. The most worrying thing is not the number of patients who are seen daily but the patient-to-nurse ratio in the district which is 7,063. So we should have more nurses to be able to attend to these patients that we have”, she explained.

Muambe also pointed out that at least one nurse for two thousand patients is ideal. Another challenge is infrastructure, as the Health Center “is already an old health unit, we have increased our staff in terms of human resources, but the number of population has also increased so the capacity of the centre is limited.”

Lisa and Manuense introduced me to their patients Ana Machavane and her granddaughter Saldona. The visit was to provide counselling on malaria, diarrhea and hypertension.

Lisa and Manuense also provide family planning support and administer HIV treatment to their patients. pic.twitter.com/0m2xdrsSvC

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 14, 2023