Villagers in Chief Saili’s area in Chipata have complained of poor services from some government clinics.
The villagers say that most of the time nurses are not found at some of the clinics at night.
They say that this has become a challenge because most of the time, the clinics are locked resulting in people who need medical attention getting stranded.
The villagers who spoke on condition of anonymity say that there is need for medical staff to be committed to duty unlike the current situation where nurses tell the security guards to call them whenever there is an emergency at night.
And when contacted, Provincial Medical Officer, Abel Kabalo explained that due to shortage of staff, nurses in rural clinics, who work alone, are allowed to rest at home at night and only attend to emergency cases.
He says that most rural clinics in the province have staff houses close to health facilities where patients are not inconvenienced when they need medical attention.
Dr. Kabalo however, says that the reports from Chief Saili’s area will be investigated to establish the truth.