By Draxon Maloya.
Lilongwe, Malawi. (News of The South) – There is an acute shortage of trained medical personnel working in the hospitals across Malawi as Concerned Unemployed Nurses and Midwifes (CUNM) have gone on strike hence putting the lives thousands of of patients at risk.
The chairperson of CUNM, Donald Zgambo has written the ministry of health (MOH) a letter which has been circulated to all district nursing officers across the country to address the concerns of the striking health personnel who are 2 035 in total.
The situation has forced Bwaila Hospital in the capital city Lilongwe which serves as a district hospital to suspend the operations of its High Dependency Unit (HDU).
CUNM wants MOH to employ them, arguing they have been working in public hospitals for close to four years but they don’t receive a full remuneration packages, only take home locum and other allowances.
The memo that has been made available to this publication dated 8; February 2019 signed by the Bwaila District Nursing Officer (DNO) says midwives have since been temporarily deployed to other wards to help deal with the shortage.
The communique reads in part; “Due to pending withdrawal of part-time nursing duties from various departments, patients care will greatly be affected. To maximise patient’s safety and optimise care during this time, the following changes will temporarily be enacted: 1. as of 11/03/2019, the maternity HDU will be closed as such no patient will be admitted. 2, some nurses and midwives will be allocated to other departments.”
In Malawi’s northern region’s district of Nkhatabay the situation has also impacted heavily on the operations of the health facility which already has a shortage of staff, the District Hospital spokesperson Christopher Singini has confirmed.
“We already have a shortfall of staff here so these part time nurses were covering the gap. But the truth is that workers are abnormally working which is not good at all,” Singini said.
Government of Malawi stopped direct recruitment of nurses and midwives, public hospitals have been using locum and student upkeep allowances to cover up the vacancy rate.
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