Atupele prompt on Mangochi Hospital fire: ‘Working on contigency plan’
Minister of Health Atupele Muluzi is in Mangochi leading a high level government team to assess the damage caused by fire that gutted Mangochi District Hospital.
He arrived at the hospital at 5:30pm on Sunday and was taken around to look at the extent of the damage and the immediate needs of the hospital.
Muluzi said people should not panic because all services at the hospital have been restored.
He also tweeted: “My thanks to all the brave staff and volunteers who contained the fire at Mangochi DH. No casualties and all patients are safe. Working on contigency plans now to maintain care for local residents.”
Both Mangochi District Health spokesperson Harold Kabuluzu and Ministry of Health spokesperson Joshua Malango said they suspect an electrical fault as the cause of the fire which left some patients scampering for life as locals evacuated the patients who could not get away from the wards on their own.
District Health Officer Dr. Henry Chibowa said some of the critical patients have since been transferred to Cham-run Mkoche health centre and government-run Monkey Bay Hospital.
Chibowa said a lot of equipment and other property have been damaged as people through them away from the hospital and other property was burned completely in the inferno.
“We have managed to account for each and every patient who run away from the wards due to the fire. Some of the patients, who could not be discharged, have been transferred to health centres,” said Chibowa.
Police spokesperson in Mangochi, Rodrick Maida paid tribute to the locals, saying they risked their lives to get into the raging fires in order to rescue patients who were in the hospital wards.
After the locals put down the fire and there were no casualties, questions are now been asked why the council does not have a running fire engine which could have helped put down the fire.
Mangochi town council chairperson Omar Magombo said it was high time the council owned its own fire engine instead of relying one from Zomba City Council.
There was no official from Mangochi Town Council for an immediate comment.
One of the residents who helped put out the fire said the incident started when a health worker switched on genset to help a patient who was on oxygen in the male ward and after switching it on, Escom power was also restored.
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As a mater on standard, each and every district council should have its own fire engine. It is called disaster preparedness .How can Mangochi district council depend on a fire engine from Zomba ? How long does it take for any car to move from Zomba to Mangochi / What more for a fire engine which in most cases are bigger vehicles carrying a big load of water and other chemicals for extinguishing fires.
It takes a life time. I think the government has to seriously look at improving transport system as we all know that it takes for ever to travel if the shortest distance .
From Zomba to Mangochi it’s hours and it’s not logical to plan emergency system like that.
Honourable Atupele, you have travelled and even stayed in some countries outside Malawi. having had that exposure, surely you can advise designers, architects, engineers on how they should design and build modern hospitals and clinics that comply with local and international minimum safety standards. Look at the hospitals, clinics and health centres being built today across Malawi. They’re all an eyesore. poorly designed and built. Its like we have gone back in time. The buildings are so depressing and yet they’re supposed to inspire confidence to the patience and motivate those who work inside. Come on Honourable Atupele., you can… Read more »
A very interesting point. Let’s move with speed to have proper planning on housing
The houses in so much poorly planned that you would not expect emergency service to reach anyone in case of fire.
Kuotchera dala kuti tioneke ngati tikugwira ntchito. I saw Chaponda coming out of the hospital immediately before the fire started. Chapondalization of every infrastructure
You are busy stealing people’s money but you cannot even manage to buy a fire vehicle in each and every district,so sad