KCH workers march to parliament to present petition
Angry Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) staff marched to Parliament on Tuesday where they presented a petition in which they have asked President Joyce Banda to cancel her planned presiding over the opening of the dialysis unit at the hospital and the launch of Masters Program in Obstetrics and Gynecology slated on November 6.
Instead, the workers have called on the President to divert the funds for her visit to solving challenges currently facing the hospitals.
The workers move to march to the August House was reached at a meeting they convened in the morning to map the way forward on the problems they are going through at the hospital.
In a petition handed over to Chairperson of the Parliament Health Committee Nicholas Dausi, the workers have also demanded that Ministry of Health Public Relations Officer Henry Chimbali should stop from giving false information to the general public that everything is normal at KCH but instead leave the talking to the hospitals spokesperson.
Read by their representative Steven Mjuweni, the hospital is sending back patients to buy their own drugs at private pharmacies as there are no drugs at the hospital including simple ones like Brufen and crucial antibiotics.
“Patients turn to cry to and even insult the helpless health workers at the bedside thinking that they are reluctant to give them treatment. KCH has one running utility vehicle which also has a faulty and we also have scarcity of stationary for writing patient case files and for day to day running of the hospital,” said Njuweni.
Due to increased mortality, Mjuweni said there has been inadequate space at the referral hospital morgue whose air condition and coolers are not working exposing workers to appalling smell of the decomposed bodies.
According to the petition, KCH budget has been cut to less than K30 million compared from K80 – K100 million three years ago.
The petition called on the government to start acting on it within 48 hours otherwise the services will not continue to be provided at the hospital from Monday, November 4.
Speaking after receiving the petition, Dausi said he will act swiftly to make sure that the petition reaches the appropriate personnel.
“This is a national crisis. It is a shame for a peaceful country like Malawi to have doctors and patients demonstrating against government’s failure to fund such a sensitive facility,” said Dausi .
