district hospitals
Lives of some patients with rabies across the country are in danger as some hospitals have been running without anti-rabies drugs, Weekend Nation has learnt.
According to our investigations, hospitals are recording more cases of rabies, yet are struggling to stock the drugs because of budgetary constraints as treatment for one sufferer costs about K30 000 (US$92).
The shortage has put lives of many people at risk, especially children who are only being prescribed drugs to buy from private pharmacies, according to medical personnel Weekend Nation talked to in various hospitals across the country.
Lilongwe District Health Office spokesperson Alvin Chidothi Phiri said they have not had anti-rabies drugs for some time. He said the hospital management will discuss the issue to determine the way forward.
“We don’t have anti-rabies drugs because of budgetary constraints. The problem is that anti-rabies are not part of the essential drugs; hence, they are not prioritised. I will raise this issue with management to see the way forward,” said Phiri.
He said Lilongwe DHO looks after 46 health centres in the district with a population of over 2.2 million. Phiri added that all health centres do not have anti-rabies drugs.
Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) director Noordeen Alide said hospitals are struggling to procure anti-rabies drugs from the Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) because of financial constraints.
“We have some supplies at KCH, but I think they are not enough. The challenge is that you spend about K30 000 on anti-rabies drugs to treat one person. Because the districts do not have the drugs, the cases are just referred to KCH.
“The situation is tricky because any person who comes to the hospital saying they have been bitten by a dog is supposed to be given treatment whether they have rabies or not,” said Alide.
Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) director Themba Mhango said anti-rabies drugs are part of the primary health care package and as such they are supposed to be highly stocked at health centre and district levels and not central hospitals.
“We only come in if it is a serious case, for example, where a person has been seriously bitten by a dog. It’s not our mandate to be stocking anti-rabies drugs for the whole community. We are only supposed to keep stocks for special cases,” said Mhango.
Mzimba District Hospital administrator Chitazga Mkandawire confirmed that the hospital has been running without anti-rabies drugs for some time but said they have just procured the drugs from Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST).
“We put the drugs on our order to Central Medical Stores. I just have to check if the drugs are part of the consignment we have received. Fortunately for us, we have been relying on a private practitioner nearby who has the drugs.
“We have been referring the cases to that practitioner. The practitioner charges the hospital because it is not the fault of the patient to get rabies,” said Mkandawire.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Henry Chimbali last week said they needed to check with district hospitals and health centres on why they are failing to stock anti-rabies drugs.
“We get our supplies from CMST who have informed us that they have the supplies, but we have to check with facilities as to why they have no stocks in their facilities,” said Chimbali.
CMST spokesperson Herbert Chandilanga on Wednesday also said the trust has enough stocks of anti-rabies drugs in its warehouses.
The Department of Animal Health and Livestock Management, which is responsible for checking rabies in dogs, cats and other pets, on Thursday said they have been conducting their usual campaigns against rabies across the country.
Said the department’s director Dr. Bernard Chimela: “Any rabies case is fatal. No one has ever survived from rabies. When you are bitten by a rabid dog, you get treatment to control the spread of the disease. If you do it quickly on the same day, sometimes you may survive but it is very difficult.
“That’s why we concentrate more on prevention because you cannot cure rabies. Our job is to vaccinate dogs and not human beings. Not all dogs are rabid but where the dog is behaving funny, people are supposed to report the dog to veterinary officials so that they put the dog on observation.”
Chimela said more people are now reporting suspected rabies cases to hospitals because of their repetitive anti-rabies awareness campaigns.
“According to World Health Organisation (WHO), any rabies case into a human being is an outbreak. Apart from the one month where we vaccinate all dogs across the country, we also have assistant veterinary officers in the field who vaccinate dogs on demand,” said Chimela.
