National News

Blackouts cost Dowa hospital millions

 

Francisco Palau Community Hospital, popularly known as Mtengowanthenga, in Dowa has bemoaned persistent power outages on the national grid, saying its efforts to provide quality health care service delivery are being negatively affected.

Mtengowanthenga Hospital currently paying the  heavy cost for blackouts
Mtengowanthenga Hospital currently paying the
heavy cost for blackouts

Hospital director Theonest Munyabugingo said in an interview on Wednesday that the facility spends at least K1 million ($1,739.99) every month on fuel to run its power generators in the absence of power from Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom).

He said the situation forces the hospital to spend outside its budget, claiming the costs incurred in running the power generators surpass bills the hospital accrues from Escom in a given period.

Said Munyabugingo: “Actually, it is one of the challenges dogging the operations of this centre. As a private run facility, we need to pay our staff and also balance that with quality service delivery we owe our clients and the community around. Now the issue of blackouts and the amounts being spent on fuel is seriously compromising us.”

Escom has attributed the current load-shedding to reduced power generation due to low water levels in the Shire River and its source, Lake Malawi.

The Catholic Church-run facility serves people in Dowa and others from as far as Kasungu and Lilongwe.

Mtengowanthenga Hospital has a 115 staff, 30 of whom are medical personnel. n

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