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People boo Malawi’s VP

Malawi’s Ministry of Health has said it will return all the 13 beds that it took from Mponela Rural Hospital last weekend.

In a statement released Thursday evening, Secretary for Health Charles Mwansambo also said government will buy mattresses. This came about after Vice-President Khumbo Kachali visited the hospital and found out that most beds had no mattresses.

“The ministry wishes to advise the general public that the 13 beds from Dowa will be returned by the weekend beginning of 21st September, 2012,” reads the statement.

Meanwhile, tension and angry chants characterised the Vice-President’s visit to the hospital where he went on a fact-finding mission on the controversial hospital beds removal to his home district in Mzimba.

The  chants of Akuba! Akuba!  forced the VP to abandon his plans to address residents who gathered at the hospital soon after hearing of his visit. Some residents were armed with stones and pangas, according to witnesses.

Kachali arrived at the hospital at about noon under heavy security and went straight into a conference room where he met hospital officials and community leaders for almost 15 minutes before proceeding to tour the controversial paediatric ward where the beds were taken from.

One of his aides, Kondwani Munthali, said Kachali was at the hospital to gather more information on the controversial transfer of the beds.

“He already asked for a report on the matter but since he was coming from Mzimba, he thought [of passing] by and get the information by himself, so that from there, he can make an informed decision,” he said.

Munthali confirmed that the Vice-President could not go ahead with a scheduled plan to address the people because of the “situation” outside the hospital.

Witness said before Kachali arrived, armed police cordoned off the place.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Women Caucus, which gave the Ministry of Health 24 hours to return the beds, on Thursday boycotted  a Sadc Parliamentary Forum (PF) ICT workshop in Mangochi as a way of forcing the ministry to meet their demands.

“We had a meeting this morning when it was resolved that we cannot go ahead with the workshop. Even the Sadc PF facilitators agreed with us because one of the pillars of the Sadc PF is the welfare and rights of children and women,” said Women Caucus chairperson Cecilia Chazama.

Chazama said the continuation of their Mangochi workshop will only depend on the response from the Ministry of Health on the issue.

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