300 patients surviving on porridge at Rumphi district hospital
For a week now, about 300 patients admitted to Rumphi district hospital are surviving on porridge as the hospital coffers have run dry.
Both patients and hospital officials corroborated this in separate interviews with Nyasa Times on Saturday.
According to an official from the catering department, the hospital does not have funds to meet the patient’s dietary needs.
The official, who pleaded for anonymity said suppliers of various food items have stopped providing foods as the hospital owes them a lot of money.
The source said a day the hospital spends 20kgs of beans, 35-39kgs beef, 40kgs vegetables and 50kgs maize flour to feed the 300 patients.
”But currently suppliers are not bringing in anything as the hospital owes them a lot of money,” said the source
Several patients that Nyasa Times managed to talk to confirmed that they are surviving on porridge.
”Infact we are sleeping on porridge and sometimes we get rice, they said.
Sources from the catering department said on Wednesday, the hospital’s administrator a Mr. Mwanyongo managed to source 35kgs of rice at Rumphi ADMARC.
The administrator is said to have also sourced 5 extra bags of maize each weighing 50kgs and a bag of beans.
The source said that the hospital is failing to pay food suppliers due to an overdraft in the district hospitals account held at NBS bank-Rumphi branch.
According to Rumphi district council’s director of finance Humphreys Phiri, the hospital overdrew K6 million kwacha from their NBS bank account.
”When their funding comes, the bank is making deductions inn order to get back their money,” said Phiri.
Meanwhile, linear at the district hospital are not being washed as the laundry department has no soap.
”Its three days now and the dirty beddings are just being piled. There is no laundry soap to watch them,” said a source from the laundry department.
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