By Isaac Salima:
Health surveillance assistants (HSAs) in some districts of the Southern Region are boycotting the mosquito net distribution exercise over delays to receive their allowances.
The Ministry of Health, with support from the Global Fund, is conducting the exercise in some districts as one of the interventions in the fight against malaria.
However, the HSAs say the delay to get their money has been a trend, such that they have decided to take action this time around.
According to a top official in the association of the HSAs, they conducted a registration exercise to identify names of beneficiaries of the initiative.
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“The [registration] exercise was for about 10 days and we were supposed to be paid K17,500 per day. We are yet to get the money and we have, therefore, agreed not to conduct the distribution exercise until the allowances are paid,” he said.
One of the HSAs in Phalombe said they converged at council offices Tuesday, when they were waiting for a response from authorities on the issue.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe acknowledged the matter.
“We have had some logistical hiccups to process some allowances for people who were involved in the exercise. This is because we used a bank that had its system down for some weeks now. The bank has since assured us that it is working tirelessly to resolve the issue.
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“Much as we share their concerns, we ask for their patience as money will be remitted to their respective bank accounts,” he said.
The exercise is being conducted in Southern Region districts that include Mulanje, Thyolo, Phalombe, Chikwawa Machinga, Mwanza and Neno.
