Unsanitary Rumphi Hospital stirs protest
Residents of Rumphi took to the street on Friday to protest against a breakdown in patients’ welfare and “worsening hygiene” at Rumphi District Hospital guardian shelter.
The marchers included traditional leaders, pregnant women and occupants of the unsanitary guardian shelter.
They marched from the hospital to Rumphi District Council offices where they presented a petition against what Rumphi Residents Association leader Moir Walita Mkandawire described as the council’s failure to provide habitable conditions for patients and guardians.
“For eight months, the guardians are living a destitute life as the facility doesn’t have toilets, rubbish bins, bathrooms and electricity. The hospital and its surroundings are home to open defeacation. It stinks,” he said.
Guardians said patients receive a monotonous diet of nsima and vegetables although the menu provides for beef and beans.
The dead are stretchered to a mortuary whose coldrooms broke down in December 2014.
After receiving the petition, the council’s acting director of administration Francis Puleni thanked the marchers for the peaceful protests and promised to forward the grievances to relevant sectors.
The concerned citizens have given authorities 14 days to address the concerns. n
