The Kalomo District Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) has approved the purchase of an ABX Micros 60 blood analysis machine, funded through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from Kalomo Central and Dundumwezi, for Request Muntanga Level One Hospital.

This follows an urgent request by the local district health office to source the equipment after the ABX micros 60 machine at the institution became malfunction three weeks ago leaving the facility without such an apparatus to attend to its patients.

This prompted Kalomo District Health Director Misheck Mukanzu to treat the situation as an emergency and sought assistance from the two constituencies to utilise the financial component under the disaster component to arrest the situation.

And District commissioner Joshua Sikaduli who chaired the DMMU meeting directed the local authority to convene an urgent meeting for the two constituencies development fund committees to pave way for financial allocation and ensure the timely purchase of the machine, which is estimated at a cost of K334,563.

Meanwhile, Request Muntanga Level One Medical Officer Benson Vomo told ZANIS that the old machine at the institution has become unserviceable as it has been in use for a long time now.

Dr Vomo noted that the absence of the equipment posed  a threat to human lives more especially for the expectant mothers who come to the health facility for proper blood level checks before they deliver.

The hospital is the major health facility in the district that services the entire Kalomo population alongside its 36 Health Centres.