Delayed and inconsistent funding has left patients in some district hospitals to literally starve as authorities are forced to ration meals or not serve them.
Random checks by The Nation this week established that the situation is also worsened by the rising cost of living as prices of foodstuffs have gone up with inflation at 29.2 percent in April from 30.5 percent in March this year. However, food inflation is at 35.8 percent, a decrease from 37.7 percent in March, largely on account of fresh harvest that has increased availability.
The findings are in tandem with a recent report by Malawi Local Government Association which indicated that in January and February this year, there was no disbursement of funding to public hospitals and patient feeding services were affected.
In separate interviews yesterday, officials at Karonga, Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota, Mchinji, Machinga, Thyolo, Mwanza and Nsanje district hospitals confirmed that their hospitals are not consistently providing the recommended three meals per day to patients.
Sources confided in The Nation that Machinga District Hospital has not been providing meals to patients for the past month.
However, the hospital’s spokesperson Wongani Nyirenda yesterday said in an interview that the patients were being provided with one meal per day due to inadequate food reserves.
“We had problems with our supplier of food commodities because we missed their payments due to funding challenges. However, we have now secured funding and we are set to resume providing a balanced diet to all patients,” he said.
Nyirenda said food rations cost the hospital about K7 million per month.
In other hospitals The Nation learnt that patients are getting two meals per day comprising either breakfast and lunch or lunch and supper.
Nkhata Bay District Hospital spokesperson Chrispine Singini said in an interview the challenge is that they can go for three months without receiving funds from Treasury, making it difficult for the facility to plan properly.
“You cannot be providing a variety of meals when you are not assured of when the next funding will come. If the funding was consistent, it would have been easy,” he said.
In a separate interview, Nkhotakota district director of health and social services (DHSS) Jacob Kafulafula said the facility is only managing two meals per day because it grows its own maize.
“If we were only relying on buying food, we could not afford because we require K14 million per month just for food,” he said.
Karonga DHSS Davie Sibale said the hospital’s food supplier was considerate and supplies food even in the absence of payment. He said for that reason the facility is able to provide three meals a day.
In Nsanje, DHSS Gilbert Chapweteka said they are feeding patients all the time, but the challenge is the rising cost of goods.
Reacting to the developments, health rights activist George Jobe said food is part of the healing process.
“If a person is on strong medication and requires three meals per day which is not available, there is a possibility of losing such a person,” he said.
Jobe, who is Malawi Health Equity Network executive director, called on the government to ensure timely disbursement of funds to hospitals.
Another health rights activist, Maziko Matemba, said food is part of provision of healthcare in district hospitals because some patients are referred from remote areas.
Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda said funding to district hospitals is under the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture following decentralisation, as such she could not comment.
On the other hand, Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture Richard Chimwendo Banda asked for a questionnaire. However, he was yet to respond by press time at 9pm.
Public hospitals in the country are solely funded by central government and many of them do not have paying wards to generate income for other operations.
In the 2025/26 National Budget that rolled out on April 1, the health sector was allocated K764.4 billion, an equivalent of 9.5 percent of the national budget against the 15 percent recommended by the Abuja Declaration on health.
Additional reporting by JORDAN SIMEON PHIRI and MARTIN GELA JR, Correspondents
