Capital Hill crisis hits health workers hard

Health workers at two of Malawi’s four central hospitals yesterday downed their tools to push for payment of their September 2013 salaries which have been delayed due to the looting of public funds at Capital Hill in Lilongwe.

The Nation has learnt that delays in payment of the salaries has affected nurses, doctors, clinicians in health facilities in all the country’s three regions, thereby putting at stake lives of patients in hospitals where medical staff have downed tools.

The Ministry of Health is the third biggest employer in the civil service after ministries of Education and Agriculture.

In his address to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday, Ministry of Health principal secretary Dr. Charles Mwansambo said the salaries have delayed because commercial banks rejected some salary cheques bearing the signature of principal accountant Roosevelt Ndovi who was arrested last week by the gates of Capital Hill when police said they found K3 million in his car boot and another unexplained $25 400 (about K10 million) at his Area 25 residence in Lilongwe.

He said: “Salaries were prepared on time, but cheques were sent back by the banks because one of the signatories is implicated in the current problems [at Capital Hill]. We have worked to sort out those issues so that those cheques can pass through.

“We are hoping that we will get the third signature from the Accountant General’s office on the remaining cheques today [yesterday] so that between Wednesday and Friday, all facilities should be paid.”

However, Mwansambo said workers in some health facilities have already received their salaries, saying they sent a negotiating team to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe to assure the striking staff that they will get their salaries this week.

The Nation crew which visited KCH yesterday found that the medical workers had deserted hospitals wards and gathered outside the hospital premises chanting that they could not be suffering while some people are looting public funds at the Capital Hill.

“We have families and needs which need to be met. Some of us have been evicted from the houses we are renting because the landlords don’t believe that we are yet to get our September salaries up to date. We also don’t have food in our houses. We are begging to save our lives and families,” said one striking health worker.

The Nation learnt that KCH has 1 147 workers whose wage bill amounts to about K114 million per month.

In an interview, KCH director Noordeen Alide said they had sent a team of officials to find out from the Ministry of Finance on why salaries for the staff have delayed.

“Salaries are prepared by the Ministry of Finance’s Accountant General. We have sent people to find out from the Accountant General on the issue of the salaries,” he said.

In an interview last week, Ministry of Finance spokesperson Nations Msowoya said the cheques signed by Ndovi needed to be re-checked and counter-signed because Ndovi is under investigation.

At Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre, medical personnel also shut down two theatre rooms, cancelling scheduled appointments for operations, according to insiders.

The insiders said this was a partial strike as other wards were operating normally but could be forced to have the action extended to other sections of the major referral hospital should government drag its feet to pay them their September salaries.

The insiders said what has worsened the situation is that government has failed to pay the medical personnel their locum allowances (payable to the medical personnel that work on days they are supposed to be off).

Said one employee: “People literally don’t have money to use for transport and how do you expect them to report for work? Today is October 7 and some of us have no institutional houses and we live in rented houses, how can our landlords understand our situation?”

The insiders said the partial strike has a huge impact because QECH has four theatre rooms that are not enough, and remaining with two was disastrous.