Jameson Chauluka, Lilongwe
MALAWI
As the staff sit-in at Malawi’s biggest referral hospital
Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) enters second week, the hospital has
suspended admitting patients.
Hospital
Director Dr. Samson Mndolo while not stating in clear terms said negotiations
are going on between the staff and the Ministry of Health.
“Negotiations
between the staff and ministry continue. Malawi Human Rights Commission and the
office of the Ombudsman are mediating [the talks]. Let’s wait and see how far
we go,” he said.
Reports say
Dr. Mndolo himself and his deputy Linley Chewere worked throughout Wednesday
night helping pregnant women deliver babies at the hospital’s maternity wing
after staff abandoned their duties due to the sit in.
One of the
workers at the hospital who spoke on condition of anonymity said the senior
nursing officers who are popularly known as matrons are the ones attending to
the patients who remain in most of the wards who were admitted before the
sit-in.
Among
others, nurses, doctors and clinicians at the hospital are protesting lack of
proper training for the healthworkers who are on the frontline fighting the
Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-19 is
a serious disease which requires that we be in the know of what is happening.
We were supposed to be trained on how best to handle such cases so that we
protect ourselves and protect the patients,” he one of the protesting workers
on Thursday.
The health
workers also decry low risk allowance which is pegged at K1,800 per month and
that the hospital should be providing institutional transport since minibus
fares have doubled due to restrictions which have been implemented to fight the
pandemic.
“With the
coming of Covid-19, the risk of us contradicting life threatening diseases is
real. We are saying our life cannot be worth K1,800. This amount was arrived at
in [the year] 2000 and that is why we are saying the allowance should be 50 or
70 percent of our basic salaries,” he said.
Ministry of
Health spokesperson Joshua Malango asked for more time before commenting on the
matter.
“Let me come
back to you. What I know is that there have been negotiations and the PS
[Principal Secretary of Health Dan Namarika] has been going there,” he said.
Health
rights activist Maziko Matemba said it was sad that the two sides are failing
to agree on how best to resolve their grievances.
“I am told
that the main issue which remains to be resolved is to do with the allowances.
These issues have to be resolved as quickly as possible because QECH is a very
important hospital and needs to be fully operational,” he said.
Another
health rights activist George Jobe said it is important that everyone including
government officials remember that they are potential patients.
He said it
is sad that the sit-in continues at the country’s biggest referral hospital
putting lives of patients at risk. - Africa
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