Resource shortage hits cholera fight

R

ising cholera cases and admissions have exerted pressure on district health offices (DHOs) which are now facing a shortage of resources to effectively contain the outbreak.

The Nation spot-checks in randomly selected districts hard hit by the outbreak showed that most health facilities are in urgent need of additional resources such as healthcare workers and medical suppliers to put up an effective fight.

In an interview yesterday, Blantyre district director of health and social services Gift Kawalazira said the outbreak has affected delivery of other health services in the district as most attention has gone to the cholera fight.

He said his office’s focus has gone to cholera vaccine as a mitigating factor and appealed for urgent support from well-wishers to fight the outbreak.

Said Kawalazira: “We are facing challenges in almost the entire spectrum. We need more tents, more beds and more everything. There is pressure in terms of human resources and we would actually relieve it if we can have additional human resources.”

Mangochi DHO spokesperson Harold Kabuluzi said the office is struggling to take cholera patients to treatment centres due to shortage of ambulances.

He said there is an urgent need of additional tents to accommodate the rising number of cholera admissions.

Kabuluzi’s Salima counterpart Angela Nyongani Sakwata said shortage of resources in managing cholera outbreak has not spared the Central Region lakeshore district.

She said Salima DHO has inadequate health personnel and is facing erratic availability of medical supplies such as ringers lactate, erythromycin and doxycline which are crucial for management of cholera patients.

The situation is also similar in other districts such as Karonga and Machinga.

In the capital city, Lilongwe DHO medical officer Thokozani Liwewe said cholera cases have continued to increase with 179 admissions to the Bwaila Cholera Treatment Centre and 56 new cases recorded yesterday.

She said the treatment unit is facing low staffing levels, but the Ministry of Health has assured to beef staff up.

Said Liwewe: “We have mobilised some resources, but we are still looking for more. But a number of stakeholders have come in to support us on this initiative.”

Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and Cholera co-chairperson Wilfred Chalamira Nkhoma in an interview yesterday said he was aware of challenges most health facilities were facing in the fight against the outbreak.

He said the committee on Wednesday after observing that DHOs were moving the existing staff to cholera treatment sites, a situation that was affecting other health services delivery.

Said Chalamira Nkhoma: “At the moment, we will target the hotspot districts which are reporting the most number of cases and provide them with support for new temporary workers dedicated to the treatment of the cholera cases.

“What Central Medical Stores Trust is doing at the moment is rationing the supplies that they have already received from suppliers and giving each district a fair share of what they are able to organise.”

In a separate interview, health rights activist George Jobe acknowledged the good work being done in the cholera fight in treatment centres despite healthworkers being overstretched.

However, he called for the need to monitor households through health surveillance assistants and community development assistants to ensure that they have pit latrines.

Said Jobe: “We also ask authorities to ensure that communities with no safe sources of water are given chlorine. We understand that some communities are getting chlorine, but this needs to be scaled up to every community. People also need to be oriented to boil water and make it safe.”

He further appealed to the Ministry of Health to recruit temporary healthcare workers to give support in the camps and encouraged the private sector to support the fight.

“We have seen Lilongwe wanting to set up a treatment centre in one of the townships and they have a budget of almost K7 million. We appeal to the private sector to assist with these resources,” said Jobe.

As of Wednesday, the country had recorded 16 086 cholera cases with 508 deaths.

Yesterday, the disease killed 25 people.

According to the Ministry of Health’s daily updates, Mangochi has registered 4 028 cases and 79 deaths since the onset of the outbreak, followed by Salima with 1 695 cases and 44 deaths, then Blantyre has 1 686 cases with 77 deaths, with Nkhata Bay has 1 500 cases and 44 deaths, and Nkhotakota has 1 193 cases and 53 deaths, among others.

Meanwhile, an inmate at Blantyre Prison, widely known as Chichiri Prison, died of cholera in the early hours of yesterday.

Blantyre Prison spokesperson Duncan Malizani said the situation was becoming scary as four more prisoners were also diagnosed with cholera at 4pm yesterday.

The development has compelled the prison management to temporarily suspend visitors to the facility.

Malawi registered its first case of cholera in March this year in Machinga District and since then the outbreak has been raging like a bush fire even in the dry season.