By Tiyanjane Nandie Mambucha, MANA
Minister of Trade and Industry, Salim Bagus has expressed worry over the budget that was allocated to Dowa District for efforts towards Coronavirus (COVID-19) prevention, saying the district has high population and needs more resources.
Dowa District was allocated K30 million and the Minister said comparing with other districts, the money was on the lower side.
Salim Bagus
Briefing Dowa District Coronavirus response committee, the minister, who is a member of the Special Cabinet Committee on COVID-19, commended the district team for progress made on its preparedness.
Currently, the district’s population stands close to 800,000 and in addition, the district hosts not less than 49,000 refugees at Dzaleka Refugee Camp.
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“The allocated budget is really on the lower side because in event the district records COVID-19 patients here, they will face problems,” Bagus said.
He noted that the main problem the district faces is inadequate personal protective equipment for the health workers.
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Bagus, however, described the activities implemented by Dowa District Council for the COVID-19 preparedness as impressive, saying they have a multi-sectoral approach which is ideal in the prevention of the virus.
“My visit was to assess how prepared the district is on COVID-19 and challenges they are facing in course of this work and how they plan to implement planned activities on COVID-19,” he said.
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Earlier, Director of Health Services, Dr. Peter Makoza gave a presentation describing activities implemented from January 2020 to April 2020 stressing more on prevention and control of the spread of COVID-19.
“We have a summary of activities that the district conducted so far which includes mobile sensitization campaign tours in the sorrounding communities and training of health workers in case management and control,” Makoza said.
Coronavirus alert
In his remarks, Dowa District Commissioner, Alex Mdooko said the district is considered high risk because of the refugees community which is very mobile most times.