Maravi

Patients' care compromised

Patients' care compromised
By The Post
Thu 19 July 2012, 10:50 CAT

It cannot be denied that thousands of unqualified or unskilled workers are taking the place of qualified nurses and medical assistants in our rural areas. And these unqualified, unskilled health workers are handing out potentially lethal drugs to patients without being supervised by trained medical staff.

Clinics and hospitals in our rural areas, currently grappling with major shortages of qualified nurses and medical assistants, have turned to unqualified general workers to perform tasks which they are not qualified or legally entitled to do.

Patients' care is being compromised. Hospitals are putting patients at risk. Skilled nursing tasks such as handing out drugs, taking blood pressure are increasingly becoming a regular part of the work of general workers at health centres, clinics or hospitals.

We do appreciate the fact that we have a new government in the country, a government that has only been in office for nine months. But something has to be done and done urgently about this very dangerous situation.

It is unacceptable that after 47 years of independence, we have health centres, clinics and hospitals being manned by untrained general workers. What has happened to all these nurses and medical assistants we have been training over the years? Today we even have private nursing schools. Where are the graduates from these training centres going? Who is employing them?

The truth is we have not been recruiting all our trained people to redeploy them in our health centres, clinics and hospitals. We still have many trained nurses who have no jobs. We know that recently, the government published lists of the nurses and other medical staff they were deploying to clinics and hospitals in our districts. This needs to be continued with a high sense of urgency because the situation is desperate.

In saying all these things about untrained workers administering medicine to patients, we are not in any way condemning those people. They don't deserve to be condemned. They actually deserve praise for the hard and stressful work they have to do. There is need to respect the work being done by these dedicated but unqualified general workers who are among the poorest paid workers in government.

There is no future development without healthy citizens. We have to highly value the health, and indeed the life, of every citizen. One cannot claim to uphold the sanctity of life if there is no provision for minimal healthcare for all.

After over 47 years of independence, we still have many of our citizens who have never seen a doctor, who have never been attended to by a doctor. One can even add that there are many of our citizens who have never been seen, or have been attended to, by a registered nurse.

Let's remind ourselves of what Dr Kenneth Kaunda said at the 15th session of the Regional Committee for Africa of the World Health Organisation in Lusaka on September 6, 1965: "I do not think that anyone could deny that the health services of a country hold the key to that country's success or failure, its prosperity or its decline."

We have trained people who need to be deployed. But we are not deploying them at the required rate. With the current shortage of medical staff in the country, we need to deploy and redeploy all those who are trained to take care of the health of our people.

And this calls for a different attitude at all levels. The medical staff we deploy should have a clear understanding of the importance of their work and the duty that they hold to their people. Caring for the sick is a calling from God of a special dignity and importance, not just another job. We say this because healthcare is really an imitation of Jesus who saw healing the sick as central to his ministry of establishing the Kingdom of God.

We may not be able to miraculously cure our sick sisters and brothers around us, but we can share tender hands and also promote the justice of good health policies, medical care and adequate medicines. Life is sacred, a gift from God to be valued from the moment of conception until death. Let's remind ourselves of Christ's work in this domain: "Jesus got out of the boat, and when he saw the large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, and he healed their sick" (Mathew 14:14).

Let's make healthcare a health undertaking and let's treat those who care for the sick with respect and honour. "Give doctors the honour they deserve, for the Lord gave them their work to do. Their skill came from the Most High, and kings reward them for it. Their knowledge gives them a position of importance, and powerful people hold them in high regard" (Sirach 38:1-3).

Labels: DOCTORS, HEALTHCARE, NURSES

posted by MrK @ 3:59 PM