Written by Richard Kayenda
It is now not a secret that Malawi’s health system is far from being ready to put Corona Virus to sleep should the situation slip out of hand.
According to the former President of the Society of Medical Doctors (SMD) in the country, Dr Amos Nyaka, Malawi’s health system does not have enough equipment and personnel who are specially trained to treat patients suffering from Covid 19.
While speaking to one of the radio stations on Sunday, Dr Nyaka said since the inception of the Pandemic in December last year, it is only three medical doctors who were sent abroad to undergo a special training on how to tackle Covid 19.
Dr Nyaka, who on Saturday resigned from his position as the president of SMD, did not mince any words, but to say that the risk allowances for health workers that the Head of State announced to have been increased is not even enough; considering the nature of the job of health workers.
Dr Nyaka said if Malawi is to win the battle of fighting Covid 19, there is need for the government to equip all the hospitals in the country with enough personal protective equipment and also to motivate the health care workers with better risk allowances. He also hinted that the government needs to isolate all the elderlies who are sixty years old or above, for they are the most vulnerable.
On Saturday, President Arthur Peter Mutharika announced new preventive measures from the Covid 19 Pandemic. Among them: he directed the treasury to reduce the salaries of the President and cabinet ministers by 10% and direct the proceeds to the recruitment of more medical personnel who will help in the fight against the disease and also increase risk allowances of the health workers. He also thus, directed the Ministry of Health and Population to recruit 2,000 more health workers to help fight Covid 19.
So far, Malawi has registered four confirmed cases of Covid 19; three of which are from Lilongwe and one is from Blantyre.
The irony with this guy is that he earlier went to the press to say social distancing is premature. I find him too arrogant and trying to score points
But again the virus has proved that there is no country at the moment that has health system to fight the virus. Countries equipped with the best infrastructures have struggled or failed to contain the virus.
If people that are experts in the field are resigning it makes even the situation much worse. Resigning from a war is not a solution to winning the battle. Unfortunately this is a sign of him accepting defeat and junior ranked officials may have problems in dealing with the pandemic.