The newly constructed paying ward at Kasungu District Hospital has generated at least K15 million in revenue within its first month of operation, with projections indicating it could raise about K200 million annually.
In an interview, the Director of Health Services for Kasungu District, Dr Emmanuel Golombe, said the facility began offering services on December 1, 2025 under a pilot phase aimed at identifying gaps before its official opening by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.
Dr Golombe said that revenue generated from the optional paying ward will support the entire district health sector, including public health centres, as a way of improving health service in the district.
“We have seen the number of patients seeking medical care at the paying ward increasing since we started offering services. Some patients are on medical schemes, while others are able to pay for the service on their own,” said Dr Golombe.
He added that the facility is still in a testing phase to allow management to gather feedback from clients and improve service delivery.
“This is not the official opening. We want to ensure proper power and water backup systems are in place before the ward is formally launched,” he said.
Dr Golombe further assured the public that free health services will not be compromised by the introduction of the paying ward.
“The revenue generated will be used across the health sector—buying essential drugs and supporting maintenance works at the referral hospital and health centres. People should be assured that free services will instead improve because of this income,” he added.
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary for Health, Dr Dan Namarika, commended Kasungu District Council for constructing the facility and urged other councils to emulate the initiative.
“Councils should generate income to incentivize health workers and improve services for non-paying patients. This initiative is commendable. I would like to encouraged the public to consider medical insurance rather than paying out of pocket to access paying ward services with dignity,” said Dr Namarika.
Earlier, the Civil Society Organization Network welcomed the development but called on authorities to ensure that funds generated from the ward are used for their intended purpose to meet the facility’s primary objectives.
Kasungu District Council constructed the paying ward using Performance-Based Grants (PBG) under the World Bank-funded Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) Programme.
By Topson Banda
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