Three years after Dineo, health centre in Inhambane province still awaits rehabilitation

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Three years after Dineo, health centre in Inhambane province still awaits rehabilitation

3:00 CAT | 08 Sep 2020

Photo: DW

More than three years have passed Cyclone Dineo hit the province of Inhambane in southern Mozambique, cutting a swathe of destruction across the education, health and fisheries sectors.

The Macupula Health Centre is just one example of infrastructure still un-rehabilitated since the disaster of February 15, 2017, leaving the community in that part of Maxixe without public health equipment in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Resident Cândida José told DW that the health centre is sorely missed. “Since the storm, we are missing [the hospital]. If someone gets sick at night and doesn’t have money for the ‘chapa’ [minibus], it’s a problem.”

Another resident, Cherley Francisco, says that, because the local health centre is still not back in operation, people are self-medicating at home. Rehabilitating the hospital would be better for people with Covid-19 symptoms.

Dineodw.inh_.dw_ — *Cyclone Dineo wreaked havoc in Inhambane in 2017*

“Because, a lot of people get sick and medicate at home instead of going to the hospital. For example, mothers who give their sick children only paracetamol. Rehabilitating the hospital [would be better], because we could have Covid-19 symptoms and get tested,” Francisco says.

No access to equipment

Casimiro Mapanzene, who used to use the health unit, says that the alternative now is to travel to the city centre for healthcare, including to check suspected Covid-19 infection.

“The community hoped that [the hospital] would be open, but everything stopped when the [roof] plates flew off. As we can see, it has been like that since the cyclone, and until now everything is at a halt. In this time of pandemic, there could be a cluster here, and not in the city of Maxixe with all the people there,” Mapanzene says.

Macupula community leader Dionísio Bata told DW that the hospital was built in 2016 by an Italian organisation. It was then handed over to the municipality, and then to the local health department. Bata says that the unit has some very useful equipment, but the rehabilitation is still pending.

“We saw that it was handed over to the Municipal Health Council, but as we are [in times of] a pandemic for the new coronavirus, [the hospital] remains closed. There are beds inside,” he pointed out.

Speaking off the record, Naftal Matusse, Inhambane Provincial Director of Health, admitted that financial resources for the rehabilitation of the Macupula Health Centre were lacking.

Three years ago, on 15 February, 2017, Cyclone Dineo hit the southern province of Inhambane, destroying 2,000 classrooms, provincial governor Daniel Chapo reported.

Cyclone Dineo was the first tropical cyclone to hit Mozambique since Cyclone Jokwe in 2008. Dineo directly affected approximately 130,000 people in Inhambane province, killed at least seven people and left an estimated 20,000 homeless.

In 2019, Cyclones Idai and Kenneth caused even more deaths and material damage than Dineo.

Source: Deutsche Welle