Leader of Opposition in Parliament Simplex Chithyola Banda has urged government to strengthen security for medical doctors, saying recent attacks are putting the country’s already limited health workforce at risk.
He said in Parliament yesterday that Malawi has about 600 doctors, comprising 459 general practitioners and 177 specialists, with a doctor-patient ratio of about 1:33 000.
Chithyola Banda questioned what the Ministry of Health was doing to protect doctors and proposed that the ministry should engage the Ministry of Homeland Security to provide police protection for doctors, particularly in high-risk areas such as Blantyre.
He warned that continued insecurity could push doctors to seek employment outside the country, worsening the shortage of medical personnel.
are endangered species.
| Nation
“Doctors are becoming an endangered species,” said Chithyola Banda.
In response, Minister of Health and Sanitation Madalitso Baloyi said her ministry was equally concerned by the recent killings and was working with the Ministry of Homeland Security.
“We are saddened that we have lost two female doctors in a row to brutal killings. This is unacceptable. We are concerned and are asking whether this is a coincidence or whether doctors are being targeted,” she said.
Baloyi commended the police for acting swiftly, saying the ministry was encouraged by the progress of investigations.
On calls to provide doctors with bodyguards, she said the proposal had not been formally presented to the ministry and would be difficult to implement given police capacity constraints.
In November 2025, armed robbers killed Victoria Bobe, a lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, at her home in Blantyre. Last week, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital doctor Atughanile Chomo was also killed at her home in Blantyre.
