One of the business operators in Karonga the northern part of Malawi known as Mwambande Investment has donated 40 bags of maize weighing 50kg each and 400 litters of fuel to the district hospital with the aim of bailing out the financial problem that the facility is facing.
Mwambande presenting bag of maize to hospital officials
The maize donated to Karonga hospital
Karonga Hospital is scaling down most of its operations as it is still running without government fund since June 2015 a development which led the officials to suspend providing food to admitted patients and taking referral cases.
Mwambande donation follows the statement announced by the District Heath Advisory Committee (HAC) through the local radio informing the general public in the district that the hospital officials will not take part in managing the resources which will be contributed by the community who earlier denied issuing their support fearing that the staff will misuse their resources.
Speaking during the donation, the Managing Director of Mwambande investment Mungasulwa Mwambande said he is concerned with the current situation at the hospital which he described as a “threat to the patients lives.”
Mwambande his donations is part of the company’s social responsibility to the community.
“As a business entity which operates here in Karonga I am very much concerned with the situation which our friends who need medical attention are experiencing at the hospital,” he said.
He then asked other business operators in the district to support the hospital.
Kalilani: I have no knoweledge on that[/caption]
Hospitals affected include Bwaila District Hospital in Lilongwe where admitted patients have been told that they will be having one meal a day from the normal three meals
The hospital’s chief medical officer Dr Ethel Lambikani confirmed the development, saying the Ministry of Health was consulted and informed before a decision was made,
The majority of patients at this hospital are those referred from rural health facilities and largely impoverished.
The hospital food budgets are being cut across the nation.
National Organisation for Nurses and Midwives of Malawi (Nonm) chairperson Dorothy Ngoma has described the development as a 'worrying example of government irresponsibility.
She said nurses are “worried “with the situation, saying the right for health is a basic human right and is guaranteed by the Constitution, “but we continue to experience wanton disregard for the right to health by government. Instead of funding the poor access to health, what is government doing with our taxes?"
However, Minister of Health Jean Kalilani has expressed no knowledge of the situation and told a local paper that she could not comment “on something Ii don’t have information on."
Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe attributed the reduction of meals for patients in some hospitals to funding woes, saying Treasury is failing to support the health budget
"It is worth observing that when we submit our budgets to Treasury, it is based on need, but these budgets get trimmed based on projections of earnings. However, what is given in a month. This puts strain on centres to prioritise on spending," said Chikumbe as quoted by Nation on Sunday.
Malawi Equity Health Network (Mhen) executive director Martha Kwataine also told the paper that the development is a signal of “a very big crisis”
She said: “You cannot take medication on an empty stomach. It’s the same hospitals which tell people to eat first before taking drugs
"As a referral hospital, Bwaila admit very poor people from outside the city, and the sick people cannot work on their own to get food. At stake is not just the right for health, but also the right to life, these people can die," said Kwataine.
Ngoma: Engages employers, lobbies for support[/caption]
Speaking during an interface meeting with civil societies and employers, under the Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecama), HRH Chairperson Dorothy Ngoma said it was high time private companies started mobilizing resources for public health facilities to ensure effective and efficient health care delivery.
She said this would help mitigate the human as well as non-human resources challenges in health services delivery.
"We cannot talk of quality health care when we don't have enough skilled human resources. There are few clinicians and we don't have enough medical equipment and other vital resources for health workers to ably execute their expected duties.
"We cannot talk of sustainable service delivery when health facilities are struggling with huge water and electricity bills and other recurrent bills. Health facilities are being underfunded amid drug shortages; so how we have efficient health care delivery?" lamented Ngoma.
She therefore urged companies to development a spirit of sharing their profits with communities by providing the health facilities at their disposal or catchment area with resources.
"For instance, cooking oil producers should just make a commitment to be providing or donating cooking oil to any health facility every month.
"Likewise those in welding and fabrication, should consider fixing all broken beds in various hospitals across the country. Maize flour producer can be doing the same. Remember, this country is ours and the people that are suffering and needing medical attention in hospitals are our sisters and brothers.
"There are heaps of broken beds and shortage of food stuffs in our hospitals and this why patients sleep on the floor and are just, at times, given porridge without sugar and salt.
"If you don't come forward to support us we will continue complaining of poor health care services and inadequate skilled health workers," said Ngoma.
Ecam Executive Director Beyani Munthali said their Association will support and work hand in hand with the Human Resources for Health Coalition lobbying for efficient and effective private sector engagement.
Munthali further said Ecam strongly believes and supports national health systems to leverage resources, health professionals, and infrastructure from both the public and private sectors in order to meet the health rated MDGs (goals 4, 5 and 6) as well as to meet the Malawi Decent Work Country Programme (MDWCP) 2011-2016
"As a representative of the Employers in Malawi, Ecam understands that Malawi cannot talk of improved productivity, nor can it talk of sustainable development without talking of improved health services delivery.
"It is in this regard that Ecam holds with highest reverence the Health and welfare of the employees from all sectors of the economy," said Munthali.
Kalinde, Hilton exchange flags[/caption]
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Hilton presents an Indian scuff to Kumpalume[/caption]
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Kumpalume presents a certificate to one of the doctors[/caption]
Organised by Rotary Club of Lilongwe, (RCL) in conjunction with other Rotary clubs in India, the 10-day operation also saw the visiting doctors saving the life of a three-day old baby. The baby did not have veins in some parts of its body and the specialists reconstructed the veins to keep it alive.
Apart from saving precious lives, the doctors left behind all the equipment they had brought into the country for use at the government referral hospital.
The equipment, which came in 105 boxes and weighed 1,400Kg includes supplies for surgical endoscopy, ear microscopes, eye lenses, eye scanners, gynae equipment, plastic surgery equipment, dental filling materials and many other materials worth millions of Kwachas.
The doctors also made an offer to train 10 specialists from Kamuzu Central Hospital for a period of two to three months in India and treat 15 Malawian patients with heart problems in their country.
Health Minister, Peter Kumpalume, who was guest of honour during a farewell dinner was all thanks to the visiting doctors for their gesture.
Quoting Mother Theresa, the Minister said: “It is not how much we give but how much love we show in giving that matters. Through the services you have provided over the past 10 days, you have touched lives of many families. On behalf of government, I wish to thank you for what you have done.”
The Health Minister also hailed the visitors for renewing their offer to train 10 Malawian doctors in India.
RCL’s immediate past president Sophie Kalinde, who was sitting in for current club president Chris Kapinda described the work done by the Indian specialists, who are also Rotarians as ‘Extraordinary.’
She hailed the Health Ministry and staff of Kamuzu Central Hospital led by hospital director Dr Jonathan Ngoma for welcoming the doctors and providing them with all the necessary support to perform their duties.
Speaking on behalf of the visiting contingent, past president for Rotary International, Rajendra Saboo, whose organisation provided funds for the trip asked the Health Minister to send 10 specialists from KCH to study in India for a period of two to three months with all their expenses in India paid for.
“We would like to add something more on what we have done. We will be happy to receive 15 Malawian children who did not have a chance to receive heart surgery. There is also a 20-year old girl at the hospital with a swollen face resulting from an infection which has been eating away bones of her face. We will be prepared to provide whatever treatment is required to bring her back to normal if she comes to India.”
Saboo also made a fresh offer for the Health Ministry to send 10 specialists from KCH to India for specialist training for a period of up to three months at their (Indians) cost.
Kumpalume: Challenge to employ the doctors[/caption]
This follows government's failure to recruit recently graduated doctors within its health delivery system.
This, according to them, displays lack of seriousness by government in redressing an ailing health system that is already on the "life support".
MDUM and SMD said in a joint statement that Malawi has specialist vacancy rate of 83% and the recently graduated medical doctors, "whom government is ignoring", could have added to the number of those medical doctors to undergo specialist training in various fields.
"This is retrogressive in a country that is still struggling to meet the minimum acceptable numbers of medical doctors to safely serve the populace.
"We have continuously been told that the leading factors in human resource shortages in health are inadequate outputs from health training institutions amongst others including emigration, resignations and deaths. Now that there are visibly significant improvements in the outputs from the College of Medicine, it is inexcusable for government to fail to absorb them," reads part of the statement.
In a 2010 World Health Organization (WHO), Malawi had only 257 doctors serving a population of over 15 million.
There are currently 459 general medical practitioners registered with the Medical Council of Malawi.
"Despite the increasing number, the doctor-to-patient ratio remains alarmingly high. Malawi deserve better.
"Malawi remains one of a WHO priority country perpetually failing to meet the target of 23 doctors/10,000 population necessary to deliver essential health services.
"It is not surprising that we are a diseased country, still confronted with high mortality and morbidity rates in various disease categories. Government does not have the luxury to ignore 51 recently graduated doctors unless it is contented with what other commentators have vehemently asserted: Malawi government has its priorities upside down," reads the statement.
Malawi has only two doctors and 37 nurses and midwives for every 100,000 people, according to the statement made available to Nyasa Times.
"Therefore, we are strongly urging government through its Department of Human Resource Management and Development to absorb the newly graduated medical doctors into our ailing health system immediately, whilst fulfilling its own commitment to train medical doctors.
"Failure to do so within 14 days will warrant an industrial action by all medical doctors in the country," emphasized the statement.
There was no immediate comment from the government, especially the ministry of health. Minister of Health Dr Peter Kumpalume is reportedly outside the country.
Magwira: Gagging[/caption]
The medicine scarcity has reached unprecedented levels in public hospitals.
This means journalists seeking information on the drug shortage will need to talk to the ministry headquarters in Lilongwe.
Misa Malawi) Chairperson Thom Khanje said the ministry already did a good job by introducing spokespersons at district hospitals and gagging them was like discrediting itself.
“They should find a better way of improving their communication. Perhaps they should learn from the Malawi Police Service which has PROs at district level and they are operating very well. Otherwise, the ministry is defeating decentralisation if it demands that their PROs should always liaise with the National PRO on health issues,” said Khanje.
On social-media Facebook, many condemned the gagging order.
Hastings Jimani, a Zodiak radio reporter, mocked the decision, saying he was walking from Mulanje to Capital Hill in Lilongwe just to get information about Mulanje Hospital.
The ministry is warning the spokespersons that disciplinary action would be taken against those who disregard the order.
The order - contained in a memo titled, ‘Reminder on communication with the media’ written by the ministry’s Principal Secretary MacPhail Magwira on October 19 2015 - came just hours after civil society leaders marched in peaceful protests in Liongwe to force government improve dwindling health services in public hospitals.
National Secretary for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), Chris Chisoni, also expressed disapproval with the order, saying gagging the PROs is not in tandem with freedom of expression.
Apart from drug shortages, there is critical shortage of health personnel in most hospitals yet the government withdrew appointemt letters of nearly 300 nurses, citing lack of money.
The ministry says it has decided to gag the hospital spokespersons because some of them gave out wrong information to the public that brought anxiety among people.
The country is facing a huge economic crisis that has forced President Peter Mutharika cancel an important summit in India.
Manjolo: The suspects will be taken to court[/caption]
Police arrested a Medical Assistant, Edison Nkhonjera, 33, and Edward Buleya 38, on Sunday 25th October, 2015.
The two, who are staff at Gogo Nazombe Health Centre in the district, have since been charged with Theft by Public Servant contrary to Section 283 of the Penal Code.
According to law-enforcers, Nkhonjera and Buleya sold the solar panels to John Selemani who was later on arrested by members of health centre committee and community policing.
Nkhonjera hails from Enkhughani village, T/A Mtwaro in Mzimba district while Buleya comes from Mdoda village, T/A Nkhumba in Phalombe district.
The suspects are expected to appear before court soon to answer charges of 'Theft by Public Servant'..
Solar panels are a source of energy providing electricity where there is no ESCOM power supply.
The conduct by the two have irked the community who have warned that they would not spare any person who plays around with public resources.
The Police have since advised the general public to be responsible and take good care of things that benefit a large group of people.
"People should also refrain from buying stolen things because it is an offense punishable by law," National Police Spokesperson Rhoda Manjolo said.
Mtengowanthenga accolades[/caption]
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The awards[/caption]
The official presentation of the awards-Excellence in Infection Prevention (IP) and Reproductive Health Services (RHS) took place on Wednesday and was presided over by Director of Nursing Services in the Ministry of Health Shira Bandazi.
Speaking at the function, Bandazi commended the hospital for its commitment towards the delivery of excellent health services.
"Having toured the hospital, it is clear that the hospital deserves these awards. I congratulate and commend management and staff of the hospital for this extraordinary achievement," said Bandazi.
She however warned of complacency which she said might lead to the revocation of the awards.
The Excellence award is a recognition system coordinated by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with USAID funded Support for Service Delivery Intergration (SSDI).
Other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) helping in the implementation of SSDI are Care Malawi, Save the Children and Plan International with assistance for another international organization known as JHPIEGO.
Together, they have been supporting several health facilities including Mtengowanthenga.
Speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of the hospital after receiving the awards, Monsignor Francis Sonkhani pledged continued and improved services with the hospital vision of "Healthy and holistic life for all".
CCTV cameras[/caption]
Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe said in an interview that the next phase would be to install the CCTV cameras in central hospitals before rolling it out in district hospitals.
This announcement comes just a day after the US threatened to pull out its massive malaria drug aid package because of theft concerns, and if the US government withdraws the free malaria drug aid, over six million Malawians, especially children, would die each year due to malaria or its related diseases like shortage of blood in the body.
Chikumbe parried away allegations that the ministry was panicking following the US governmemt threats, saying the CCTV cameras at the Central Medical Stores were stored last year.
"As government, we have always been concerned about these thefts. This is why we are installing the CCTV cameras in drug storage facilities and pharmacies," he said.
It is estimated that 25 percent of drugs in public hospitals are stolen mostly by clinicians.
"What we are doing is not a reaction to the US. We just want to be vigilant. We want this theft to come to an end," he said.
He said a donor, whom he did not name is funding the project to an undisclosed amount, only saying it is a huge amount of money.
The US gives Malawi 95 percent of free malaria drug in public hospitals through the US president’s malaria initiative.
Sexually abused victim[/caption]
Police told Nyasa Times Thursday that 28 year old Kenneth Mkorongo asked the client, whose name we have deliberately withheld on ethical reasons, to undress when she went at the hospital for scanning to find out if she was pregnant or not.
"He advised her to lie down as part of the process of scanning. Then he started caressing her private part. Then he was about to penetrate his penis into her when she realised something was amiss," said our police informer in Mulanje.
The police source said the lady then sensed danger and walked out of the room before calling her husband who immediately contacted the hospital administration which in turn called the police.
The police, according to our source, immediately responded and arrested Mkoromgo who hails from Benjamin Village in Chief Kilipula's area in Karonga.
Hospital officials at Mulanje District confirmed the incident and said Mkoromgo is now with the police but refused to make further comments on the matter, saying they have been told not to speak to the media but refer journalists to ministry headquarters.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe said he needed more time to investigate the matter and make an appropriate comment.
However, senior hospital staff said this was an isolated case therefore patients and clients should not get scared . They promised stricter rules.
Kumpalume: We can employ the doctors[/caption]
Twenty one of the 51 doctors have found jobs in Lesotho attracting criticism and uproar from the public as government said it failed to employ them due to budgetary constraints.
"I am disappointed, as a medical doctor myself, this is very disappointing indeed. But we cannot reverse their decision if they have been offered jobs elsewhere, they have a right to work anywhere they want to," said Kumpalume.
it is estimated that the doctor patient ratio in Malawi is 1 to 80000 and it takes close to K31m to train one doctor at the Malawi College of Medicine.
"The government trains doctors but it is not automatic that it can hire everybody. Others have a choice but we are in the process of recruiting more staff in the ministry including the doctors," he said.
If government fails to recruit the doctors. It means K620m of tax payers money has gone down the drain.
President of Malawi Medical Doctors Association Douglas Lungu said the government should have its priorities right, arguing is a waste of public resources to spend 25 years preparing for the setting up of the college yet the same government is now reluctant to hire the doctors it trained with public money.
It is estimated that there were more Malawian doctors in Manchester, UK than they were in Malawi as both the doctors and nurses leave Malawi enmasse for greener pastures.