Malawian musician Patience Namadingo has offered to pay for Mangochi District Hospital maintenance costs to fix broken down ambulances.
The outspoken celebrated musician announced this through a message on his Facebook Page.
The message was backed with pictures of a number of broken down ambulances at the hospital’s parking yard.
“All these ambulances are dead in Mangochi? I have decided to go and find out a way to fix all. The people of Mangochi and surrounding areas, seriously need the ambulances running. Tomorrow (April 14), I will leave for Mangochi. I will fix them all.”
A number of people reacted positively for his gesture to fix the broken down ambulances which are used to carry patients and the dead across the district.
Gift Saeed said: “Good Samaritan, May Allah increase more knowledge in you Namadingo. It’s not everyone can acknowledge such mess and come up with idea of repairing those very important vehicles. God bless you Doc.”
Boswell Mamanga also commended Namadingo, :”Big up for this idea. I hope you fulfill this Insha allah . This country needs Millions of people of such a mindset. Thumbs up.”
Businessperson and enterprenuer Victoria Mwafulirwa urged people to emulate Namadingo’s spirit to help the government.
She said: “This is a great initiative. I think the people of Mangochi should be involved, just so they know that as private citizens, they are allowed to take action and not always wait for government. Better still privatising maintenence would ensure that all these life saving vehicles are always on the road and in good condition.”
Another post from somebody who called life coach said government had not been good at maintaining equipment.
“Government knows how to buy good equipment but fails to maintain them. It’s sad that most drivers in government prefer fixing government cars on their own to maintain their income on allowances, otherwise if they don’t it means relying on salary alone which is not enough.
“Another thing is that people who handle such cars milk government money by increasing service fee which doesn’t seem to be a good idea for government to fix the cars. It’s sad.”
A concerned person brought the issue to the public after be posted pictures of broken down ambulances at the hospital.
But Mangochi District Director of Health and Social Services Dr Henry Chibowa Jnr said the issue was blown out of proportion as only four ambulanced need to be maintained while five others will be auctioned as they are not a good condition.
He said if the broken down ambulances are maintained they can take the fleet to 19 which is ideal for their operation.
