Justice Minister Charles Mhango has warned that treating every adverse medical outcome as negligence risks fuelling fear among clinicians and ultimately harming patients.
Speaking in Lilongwe yesterday at a conference on Medical Errors, Patient Safety and Legal Liability, Mhango said the justice system must be fair and proportionate.
“Medical care is complex, urgent and often risky. Even where clinicians act with dedication and skill, adverse outcomes may occur,” he said. “When every adverse outcome is treated as negligence without proper inquiry, we risk creating fear and defensive practice.”
Mhango, a lawyer who has represented both doctors and patients, said preventable harm must be addressed, but accountability should be “informed, proportionate and fair”.
He urged the Malawi Law Society, Medical Council of Malawi and Medical Association of Malawi to use the conference to produce practice guidelines, policy proposals and stronger referral mechanisms.
MLS president Davis Njobvu said public dissatisfaction with health services is growing despite limited data on negligence cases. “We do not really have that data. But we know many Malawians have expressed dissatisfaction, sometimes justifiably and other times out of frustration,” he said.
The two-day meeting comes after the medical council disciplined eight practitioners and four private hospitals in October 2023 over professional negligence.
