The community around Ndirande Health Centre will no longer experience dark nights when electricity on the national grid goes off after MACRA donated a generator that will be used as power backup at the centre.
Before the donation, the health centre was asking pregnant women to bring candles from their home as a stopgap in case of unexpected power outage whilst giving birth.
Both the donation and the installation of the generator has cost MACRA K3 million.
The donation was presided over by the Minister of Information, Tourism and Civic Education Hon. Jappie Mhango at a colourful ceremony that took place at the health centre.
Speaking after the handover, Hon. Mhango said the donation was made to ensure quality health service delivery at the centre.
“We believe the donation will go a long way in improving services at the health centre. Let me take this opportunity to urge members of staff and the community to take good care of the generator so that it serves its purpose,” he said.
Blantyre District Health Officer Dr. Matchaya said the donation had come at the right time when the hospital was going through a process of being upgraded to a community hospital.
He said the community can now be assured that they will receive quality treatment even when there is no electricity as the generator will be able to provide backup power.
MACRA Deputy Director General Mr. Francis Bisika said the health sector is one of the areas MACRA has often taken an interest in as it directly benefits millions of Malawians who have a stake in the country’s communications sector.
“Ndirande Mountain hosts some of the country’s key communication infrastructure, including telecommunication and broadcasting towers, and it is great to observe that the community around the Mountain has been taking great care of the equipment there with no incidents of vandalism reported lately,” Mr. Bisika said.
He said MACRA decided to make the donation to the health centre which is making a difference in a community which is contributing a lot to the socio-economic development of Malawi.
MACRA also presented a starter pack of 200 litres of fuel for the generator.