Zambia: The Zambia Flying Doctors Service recently hosted an eight-day medical outreach programme in the Mufumbwe district of North-Western Province. The medical practitioners were hailed for taking the initiative to take healthcare facilities to remote regions.
Many districts and communities across Zambia do not have hospitals within accessible distances. The situation makes the people of the said communities delay seeking medical help for their medical issues,
The organization has provided specialised services, including primary health care, to over 1,500 patients. The medical outreach programme was hosted for eight days, with patients arriving from various communities.
The Zambia Flying Doctors offered a variety of services to the patients during the medical outreach programme. The officials have shared the statistics of the patients who took advantage of the various facilities.
Over 400 patients of the Mufumbwe district presented with eye problems. Further, 326 patients presented with dental issues, and about 20 female reproductive related problems among others.
The officials were happy to provide the healthcare facilities to the people of the community. The people of the community have also experessed their appreciation on seeing the health outreach programme.
Obstetrician and Gynecologist Musonda Mutale, who was also a part of the Flying Doctors’ team shared some challenges. According to her the biggest challenge for the low turn up was lack of publicity of their visit in the district.
“The Challenge we have had is that the publicity of our coming was not done effectively, most people were not expecting us so we have not had many people coming in for elective procedures,” Dr Mutale said.
She stated that the team would have loved to have more people benefit from the services but it is unfortunate that things turned out that way.
The team of Nkole Mukuka further noted that the response in the hard to reach areas was fine. They added that this is because most people were not aware of their presence in the area.
Mukuka further stated that Malaria seems to be one of the major diseases that people in the rural part of Mufumbwe are grappling with.
“Amongst the diseases that we have been screening here, Malaria seems to be prominent in all the facilities that we have visited,” Dr Mukuka stated.
He has since advised the residents in Mufumbwe to start sleeping under treated mosquito nets and allow their homes to be sprayed during indoor residual spraying exercises.