CoM doctors scale down services at QECH

Patients requiring specialist medical attention at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre will have to pray for divine intervention because College of Medicine (CoM) specialists who have been key in providing medical and clinical services at the referral hospital have scaled down their services.

The (CoM) specialists say this is a drive to force the Ministry of Health to acknowledge and recognise their contribution towards health care delivery at the referral hospital by giving them the resources they need to do their work.

One of the 30 concerned specialists, Dr Wakisa Mulwafu, confirmed their action on Friday.

Mulwafu said this means CoM specialists will no longer provide services outside normal working hours, during weekends and holidays. This is expected to put more strain on government specialists at the facility, currently said to be less than 10.

“One thing you need to understand is that we are under the Ministry of Education and our core job is to research, teach and train doctors.

“But, over the years, we have offered medical and clinical services to patients because there is a shortfall of doctors at the referral in anticipation that the Ministry of Health would acknowledge and recognise our contribution by giving us incentives as it does with government specialists,” he said.

He said through a July 2013 communiqué, the Ministry of Health said that it would start providing incentives such as fuel and airtime to specialist doctors working outside normal time.

However, the policy does not apply to CoM specialists, a situation that dismayed them, according to Mulwafu.

He said they have tried on several occasions to engage health officials to iron out disparities between government and CoM doctors.

Another specialist, Dr Jane Malewa, said they are forced to use their personal resources to provide services at the hospital.

“Despite our unflinching contributions, the Ministry of Health has completely neglected us. We use our own resources such as fuel and airtime to offer service to patients at night, holidays and during weekends.

“This surprises us because, at the end of the day, government and CoM specialists provide same services. So why are we being treated differently?” wondered Malewa.

She said QECH does not provide a conducive environment for specialists to discharge their duties.

“It’s a pity that the Ministry of Health has failed to provide us with duty facilitation to enable us discharge our professional duties. People are dying every day because the facility has no medical equipment, drugs and supplies. As human beings, we are equally concerned,” said Malewa.

Minister of Health Catherine Gotani Hara said she is aware of doctors’ grievances, adding that the matter was referred to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) for intervention.