Villagers in Yei River County’s Otogo and Lasu Payams in Central Equatoria State have expressed happiness with the reopening of Kagelu Primary Health Care Unit (PHCU) six years after it was shut down due to insecurity.
According to local residents in Kagelu, Otogo, Ombaci, Morobo, Yembe, Abegi, Rumbeke, and Lasu villages, they have been forced to rely on tree roots and other herbs and walk long distances either to Yei town or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for treatment since conflict engulfed the area in 2016.
Victoria Sunday, a resident of Abegi village, told Radio Tamazuj their suffering has come to an end with the reopening of the health center.
“We were faced with a lot of challenges in the village, there was no medicine and we had to walk long distances either to Yei or DRC to get medical services,” she explained. “Now that this health center has reopened, I am very happy because it is going to help us the women.”
Another resident, Jackson Taban, thanked the government and health partners for ensuring that the health facility resumes operations.
“This health facility will help both the people of Otogo and Lasu Payams,” he said. “There is no health center starting from the Kagelu, Abegi, Rubeke, and Lasu road and also on the Morsak-Ombaci road and the reopening of this facility is big news for the people and they are very happy.”
For his part, Michael Lugala Nicolas, the Yei River County health director, said the facility was rehabilitated and fully equipped by Malteser International.
“The purpose of reopening this facility is to help the population in places like Abegi, Rubeke, Goja, and up to Sanja-Siri because these people have been living without medical services due to the displacements,” he said. “They used to get medical services at Kagelu Primary Health Unit (PHCU) and our partner Malteser has supplied a full package of drugs and there are 7 staff members deployed to work at the facility.”
“The health center will offer services like consultation, immunization, antenatal, and many other health services,” Lugala added.
He advised the local population to make use of the facility instead of relying on herbs for treatment.