On behalf of the concerned 2014 College of Medicine (COM) Medical Laboratory Sciences (MLS) graduates, I would like to reiterate our displeasure on how Malawi Government is handling our posting. The
predicament is so excruciating and I would like condemn this particular Government’s debacle in strongest terms. We are now in the second year of staying idle at home, despite The Government, through the Ministry of Health, promising to employ us.
The song of ‘’we are working on your posting’’ which MoH officials have kept singing to us for more than a year now, has become so boring that we On behalf of the concerned 2014 College of Medicine (COM) Medical Laboratory Sciences (MLS) graduates, I would like to reiterate our displeasure on how Malawi Government is handling our posting. The predicament is so excruciating and I would like condemn this particular Government’s debacle in strongest terms.
We are now in the second year of staying idle at home, despite The Government, through the Ministry of Health, promising to employ us. The song of ‘’we are working on your posting’’ which MoH officials have kept singing to us for more than a year now, has become so boring that we don’t want to listen to it anymore.
Despite the laboratory department facing this problem, Nurses’, Pharmacists’, Physiotherapists’ ,Doctors’ and others’ recruitments are being run smoothly by MoH. It is more mystifying as we are among the fewest graduates, with last year producing only 20 MLS graduates, of which 7 were of mature category, meaning only 13 of us remain unemployed. With laboratory department being one of the well-funded departments by the donor community and other stake holders, how can a serious Government fail to employ 13 MLS graduates when it is apparent that we are heavily needed in the Government health setup? How can, in reality, HIV be eradicated by 2030 when the Government is failing to employ the most qualified laboratory graduates Malawi produces? Who does not know that the laboratory work is the core of modern medicine, which is evidence based, and opposite of the Stone Age guesswork type? So far, only less than 40 graduates of our qualification have been employed since MLS (Honours) Degree program started being offered at COM, less than 8 years ago. And I would like to challenge anyone who thinks laboratory workers are adequate in Government hospitals, to visit the hospitals and see the reality
on the ground. Several appeals have been made through different offices on this issue.
Surprisingly, every official, including The Minister of Health, have even gone to the extent of personalizing the this issue, uttering unprintable words to us whenever we try to question them on the state of affairs on our employment. 90% percent of our calls to MoH officials go unanswered and others have resorted to blocking our numbers, more to unfold later. Regardless, we will stand our ground and continue to speak out until things fall into normal shape.
No one person, political party, or country is bigger than the laboratory sector. Blocking our employment for personal gains is not the way to go. Others have echoed that we venture into entrepreneurship or work in the privates. But most Malawians, as we all know are not born with a golden spoon in their mouth, and we are not exception. We are mostly from humble backgrounds and we have worked our
way through hardships to reach this far.
The Private sector is more business oriented, and it employs only experienced individuals, who have undergone internship. It is our request to Malawi Government that it, pragmatically, come out clear on our issue with time frame of activities. Otherwise, we expect immediate deployment for work that we provide our service for the Malawian people who are in seriously need of it. Don’t want to listen to it anymore.
Despite the laboratory department facing this problem, Nurses’, Pharmacists’, Physiotherapists’ ,Doctors’ and others’ recruitments are being run smoothly by MoH.
It is more mystifying as we are among the fewest graduates, with last year producing only 20 MLS graduates, of which 7 were of mature category, meaning only 13 of us remain unemployed. With laboratory department being one of the well-funded departments by the donor community and other stake holders, how can a serious Government fail to employ 13 MLS graduates when it is apparent that we are heavily needed in the Government health setup? How can, in reality, HIV be eradicated by 2030 when the Government is failing to employ the most qualified laboratory graduates Malawi produces? Who does
not know that the laboratory work is the core of modern medicine, which is evidence based, and opposite of the Stone Age guesswork type? So far, only less than 40 graduates of our qualification have been employed since MLS (Honours) Degree program started being offered at COM, less than 8 years ago. And I would like to challenge anyone who thinks laboratory workers are adequate in Government hospitals, to visit the hospitals and see the reality on the ground.
Several appeals have been made through different offices on this issue. Surprisingly, every official, including The Minister of Health, whom we wrote to last year, has turned a blind eye to our issue. It all comes up to asking whether the current MoH officials are working towards improving our health sector or not. From where I stand, all I see is selfishness in most of these officials. Some have even gone to the extent of personalizing the Ministry, uttering unprintable words to us whenever we try to question them on the state of affairs on our employment. 90% percent of our calls to MoH officials go unanswered and others have resorted to blocking our numbers, more to unfold later. Regardless, we will stand our ground and continue to speak out until things fall into normal shape.
No one person, political party, or country is bigger than the laboratory sector. Blocking our employment for personal gains is not the way to go. Others have echoed that we venture into entrepreneurship or work in the privates. But most Malawians, as we all know are not born with a golden spoon in their mouth, and we are not exception. We are mostly from humble backgrounds and we have worked our
way through hardships to reach this far. The Private sector is more business oriented, and it employs only experienced individuals, who have undergone internship.
It is our request to Malawi Government that it, pragmatically, come out clear on our issue with time frame of activities. Otherwise, we expect immediate deployment for work that we provide our service for the
Malawian people who are in seriously need of it.
