Maravi

Transfer of equipment paralyses UTH theatre

Transfer of equipment paralyses UTH theatre
By Ernest Chanda
Thu 07 Oct. 2010, 04:01 CAT

SOME senior staff at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) have complained that the government’s move to strip the institution of its theatre equipment and move it to Chawama first level hospital has paralysed operations.

But health minister Kapembwa Simbao on Tuesday disclosed that former UTH managing director Dr Peter Mwaba had long donated the equipment to the ministry because it was excess.

In an interview, the source said there was an initial understanding to have the equipment moved to Chawama as a one-day exercise and then brought back to the UTH the following day.

On September 15, 2010, President Rupiah Banda commissioned the first level Chawama Hospital Theatre, whose equipment was moved from UTH.

The source said UTH management and the Ministry of Health, however, rescinded the decision, claiming that the government would purchase new equipment for the institution.

“The saddest part is that there was a shift from the original arrangement where the equipment was supposed to be used just for the launch of that upgraded hospital in Chawama. In short, it was just meant to window-dress the function. But the government has refused to bring back that equipment, and now we are literally stranded; we can’t perform theatre operations at UTH,” the source complained.

“All the theatre tables, trays and other essential equipment were shifted to Chawama. And as I speak, all this equipment is just lying idle in Chawama because there are no doctors to use them. It would have been better if we had a rotational programme where on a daily basis we would have some doctors operate from Chawama. But there is the issue of money; the government will obviously say they have no money for that. And you can’t just move doctors without paying them.”

Another source complained that the change in decision had shocked all staff. The source wondered why the Ministry of Health had not replaced the equipment as earlier pledged.

“We are now being told that the Ministry of Health will buy us new theatre equipment. And I think we saw a story in your paper a few weeks back where the Ministry of Health was giving that assurance. But we are still surprised that this equipment has not been bought. The main theatre rooms are now white elephants; there is literally no equipment there. So, how can you operate a big health institution like UTH without theatre services?” questioned the source.

But Simbao insisted that the equipment was more than what UTH needed.

"Look, that equipment is excess equipment. There's nothing like taking it back to UTH. We are refurbishing theatre 3 and we can't put old equipment there. In fact, that equipment was offered by Mwaba long before he became PS permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health. He had offered that equipment to the permanent secretary then," Simbao said.

When reminded that doctors were still complaining that there was no equipment in the theatre rooms, Simbao dismissed the complaint as a lie.

"No, they're lying. We have the equipment. UTH had about two sets of excess equipment which were donated to the ministry, one for Kanyama and one for Chawama. The other day, some doctor was saying I was just politicking; no, that's unfair," said Simbao.

And UTH public relations manager Pauline Mbangweta said the move was part of the process to decongest UTH.

"You have heard what the government are saying, that we are upgrading. So it is not true that we are not carrying out operations at UTH; we have the equipment," said Mbangweta. "The whole purpose is to decongest UTH. In fact, we are putting up a programme where every Monday, we will assign a surgeon to go to Chawama and Kanyama where we have upgraded clinics. We don't want everyone to come to UTH for those services.”

On Monday last week, resident doctors in all public health institutions countrywide resolved to go on strike, citing poor conditions of service and lack of proper equipment and an unpredictable timetable for paying doctors’ on-call allowances.

The resident doctors, however, suspended their strike two days ago, citing sympathy for patients.

And commissioning the level one Chawama Hospital Theatre last month, President Banda said the government would build more hospitals in order to provide quality health care to the people. He said the exercise would also help decongest UTH.

Labels: HEALTHCARE, KAPEMBWA SIMBAO, UTH

posted by MrK @ 2:48 PM