Govt is failing us, say doctors

Medical doctors have accused the government of failing them in various ways and have since called for an emergency meeting on November 26 2015 to map the way forward.

Through an open letter signed by Society of Medical Doctors (SMD) signed by its president Douglas Lungu, the doctors accuse government of ill-treatment and ignoring their concerns.

Among other issues in the letter, SMD blames the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and Ministry of Health (MoH) for failing to recruit or offer internship to 51 medical doctors who recently graduated.

Besides, the doctors also take exception to allegations of drug pilferage by some medical doctors working in the public sector levelled by senior government officials. They also protest the termination of postgraduate training for Malawian medical doctors in South Africa.

Reads in part the doctors’ letter: “It is disheartening that the Malawi Government announced in September 2015 that it will not recruit the newly graduated 51 medical doctors. This scenario has forced most of these young medical doctors, who are major contributors to the future of our health system, to seek employment from other countries.”

According to the letter, government senior officials through the Ministry of Health have on several occasions accused district health officers of being involved in the disappearance of drugs in various public health facilities, which they described as ‘demeaning and unacceptable’.

However, MoH spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe on Thursday dismissed the accusations of government refusing to recruit the graduate doctors.

He said: “On that issue, government offered to take the 51 graduate doctors on board on the condition that they will not be getting a salary, but a stipend because they are currently not contractable.

“They will only be put on salary at the expiry of their 18 months of internship.”

But Chikumbe insisted that government is not changing tune on its stand to discipline medical doctors who are continuing to live in South Africa while their scholarship phased out.

However, health rights campaigner Maziko Matemba asked government and the medical doctors to find a solution on the matter that will help the citizens of the country.