19 January 2008
Maputo — At least 11 large district health centres in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula have shut down because of shortage of equipment, while 11 others are operating with great difficulty, reports Saturday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
The provincial authorities have received complaints from the people affected by this situation. According to Paulo Rapaz, the head of the planning department in the Nampula Provincial Health Directorates, the most serious aspect of the closures is that the health units concerned have maternity wards.
Pregnant women in these districts no longer have access to medical care because their nearest health centres have closed. This is a serious blow to the government's attempts to increase the percentage of births that take place in health units, and to reduce the country's maternal mortality rate.
Rapaz said that the efforts made by the provincial health directorate to solve the problem cannot be successful as long as it faces a shortage of funds.
The provincial government has set, as one of its priorities for 2008, the acquisition of equipment for all the health centres concerned, so that they can start operating again.
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