Hospital refutes newspaper report of medical officer sexually abusing pregnant women

Dowa District Health Officer (DHO), Dr. Peter Makoza has dismissed media reports of a Senior Health Officer at Dowa District Hospital  Emmanuel Chiweta  has been raping pregnant women while treating them at the facility.

Doctors who engage in sexual misconduct with patients are investigated and punished when found

The Sunday Times newspaper of February 4 2018, reported that police in the district on Friday, last week, arrested a health practitioner, Emmanuel Chiweta on allegations that he has  been raping pregnant women who came to seek medical services at the facility.

The paper further reported that authorities at Dowa District Hospital had received complaints of the same by 15 pregnant women, but no action was taken to punish the suspect on his alleged conduct.

But Makoz confirmed that the suspect indeed sexually assalted a woman who reported to the police and not raping her.

He said his office has no records indicating that the suspect had raped 15 pregnant women and that the authorities were reluctant to discipline him, saying his office has since suspended the officer for investigations.

The DHO said investigations on the matter are still underway, adding, recently, officials from the Medical Council of Malawi came to look into the matter  themselves and they are yet to come up with their own report of their findings.

Meanwhile, Dowa Police Station’s Public Relations Officer, Sergeant Richard Kaponda, has said the complainant of the matter has since voluntarily withdrawn the case from the police .

The story of the alleged pregnant woman raped and the medical practitiner went viral around Dowa boma with some people accusing the hospital and police of hiding information.

 

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