BY MANDY PONDANI:
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has received condemnation from several stakeholders after reports emerged that Njuyu Health Clinic in Mzimba West remained closed for a whole day due to absence of staff.
Patients who sought help on the day were welcomed to a notice posted on one of the facility’s walls informing them that the closure was due to the absence of a clinician who had reportedly gone on annual leave.
Written in Tumbuka by one of the hospital officials, the poster informed the community not to bring any patient until they got news that the clinician is back to work.
Read the notice: “Chipatala palije pano. Awo wakupereka mankhwala wafumapo (adokotala). Walwari wayambe kwiza pala mwapulika adokotala wiza. (A Jere wayamba holiday). There is no clinic here. The one who administers drugs (a doctor) is away. Patients should start coming when they hear that the doctor is back. (Mr Jere has gone for holiday). ”
This stirred uproar on social media where the notice had gone viral, with a majority of commentators fearing for the patients’ lives who had to travel a distance of over 10 kilometres to Eswazini or Kafukule Health centres to access medical care.
“They don’t care about the people they serve, there are occasions when the clinic will close while all the officers are around. Someone thinks people in the village are not Malawian enough,” said Violet Jere, a member of the Area Development Committee (ADC) in a telephone interview.
District Health Officer (DHO) for Mzimba North, Emily Gondwe confirmed the closure.
She said the resident medical officer was due for annual leave but left before another officer was deployed for relief.
“The standard procedure is that one should not leave their duty station until another officer for relief has been deployed because there are issues of handovers and all. So the law is clear on such issues and we intend to sit down with the officer in question for such negligence,” Gondwe said.
She stressed that no member of staff at a health facility has the power to close or declare it closed since public health facilities are supposed to be open all the time unless directed by the MoH on valid grounds.
District Commissioner (DC) for M’mbelwa District Council Thomas Chirwa said absconding work is a disciplinary matter and as such, he has instructed the office of the DHO to institute an investigation.
He stressed that what the clinician did is a violation of the people’s health rights.
Health rights activist George Jobe of Malawi Health Equity Network described the development as deplorable, saying it only vindicates concerns about the shortage of staff in the country’s health sector.
“When it comes to health, there is no compromise, we hope that council officials will get to the bottom of this issue to avoid similar incidents elsewhere. We have always said that in the long term our health system requires adequate workforce,” Jobe said.
MoH spokesperson Joshua Malango has said the government is set to recruit over 200 health workers some of whom will be deployed in rural areas.
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