Malawi’s health ministry faulted over poor hygiene at Mchinji district hospital

By Brian Longwe

MCHINJI-(MaraviPost)-Angry residents in Mchinji have taken to task Ministry of Health (MoH) for poor hygiene at Mchinji district hospital which has turned into death trap.

Three years have now passed since the hospital kitchen was demolished by fire in October 2014 which resulted into destruction of cooking appliances, furniture and other items.

The group accused government officials of not concerned with the poor people’s welfare.

The Maravi Post also found out that the hospital is temporarily using a dilapidated shelter around the premises, as a cooking place.

In a random interview, residents explained that since the occurrence of incident in 2014, there has been no immediate plans in construction of a new kitchen a development which has raised concerns by communities.

However, Officials at the hospital have directed the blame to ministry of health saying that it is the one responsible for the reconstruction of a new kitchen.

Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Health Joshua Malango observed that there has been delays on the matter due to rejected bill of quantities for the project amounting to MK200,000,000 which Mchinji district council proposed.

“We had bills meant for the project worth the outlined amount which we thought was too expensive and we asked the council to review that,” said Malango.

District Commissioner for Mchinji Rosemary Nawasha acknowledged the ministry’s confession as she said the rejected proposed bill influenced failure to start the project.

Nawasha further said “the council is currently in the process of sourcing out the contractor and that the process is yet to commence starting from Tuesday this week.”

“I just observed that the ministry had rejected the proposed bill which the council made for the project after noticing that it was costly,” she said.

She however disclosed that by the time the bill was being proposed she was not in Mchinji.

In a related development, Patients and guardians at Chankhungu Health Centre in Dowa have endured a couple of days without bathing because the only bathroom that was at the health centre got damaged by a tree that fell on it due to rain storms.