 has accused Karonga District Hospital of violating rights to health and mismanagement of resources){kind=link}
Malawi: Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has accused Karonga District Hospital of violating rights to health and mismanagement of resources. The commission made these accusation through a report that was published on Thursday.
Karonga District Council officials and Civil Society Organisations in the district, MHRC Commissioner, Boniface Massa read the report. Afterwards, he said MHRC received a request from the Principal Secretary Health Ministry to carry out an independent investigation.
The team was required to look into the alleged violations of the right to health and mismanagement at the district hospital. Permanent Secretary for health expressed her concern on the situation when she saw the report on social media.
The article from the MHRC raised issues concerning management of health workers. It also questioned how the hospital was maintaining flow of medicines and drugs meant for the public.
The report alleged that ”the hospital is being run by a cartel of heartless mafia of health workers. Further, it was said, doctors and senior managers run their own pharmacies, clinics, and surgical shops.
According to the MHRC patients were advised to buy essential medicines in bulks due to drug stock outs. According to the investigation of the Malawi Human Rights Commission, girls were dying while giving birth.
All these issues pointed to the fact that there was negligence on the part of health workers. Further, health workers discriminate northerners on the basis of tribalism and regionalism.
MHRC Commissioner, Boniface Massa noted that their investigations found that some health workers including health officers operate private health facilities within the district. This leads to patients not being given access to the necessary services at the District Hospital where they are employed.
The health officials were moving drug supply given to the government hospital to their private clinics. This caused a shortage of drugs in the
According to Massa, the Commission has found that the convicted health worker is still on government payroll at Karonga District Hospital. Further, the MHRC report said that maternal and neonatal deaths were also on the rise.
This is due to inadequate facilities in the labour ward and negligence by nurses and midwives on the mothers or the newly born. The Commissioner said the alleged acts of discrimination were not confirmed.
The Commission has since recommended that Medical Council of Malawi, Nurses Council of Malawi and Pharmacies and Medicines Regulatory Authority should scale up their regulatory and monitoring roles and certification of the health workers in public service operating their private health facilities to curb abuse of this right.
The organization ordered the Council to remove from the health worker who was convicted of drug theft from their payroll.
The Ministry of Finance through the Ministry of Local Government has been advised to provide adequate financial and non-financial resources including human resources such as nurses and midwives and ambulance services to the hospital to improve on service delivery.