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| National |
| Central hospitals to attract charges |
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by
Joseph Langa, 02 November 2004
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08:29:31
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Government has prepared a bill to de-link the country’s four major hospitals from the Ministry of Health, starting with Kamuzu and Queen Elizabeth central hospitals, to make them autonomous.
But Malawi Health Equity Network has warned that the move will limit access to the four hospitals because “autonomous mean that at some point people will have to pay for the services”.
Team leader for the Hospital Autonomy Programme funded by the United States Agency for International development (Usaid) Rodion Kraus said in an interview on Monday the hospital autonomy bill has been prepared and given to government.
Kraus, from Partners of Health Southern Africa, declined to divulge more information on the issue, saying the ministry was best placed to do so.
The ministry’s director for clinical services Rex Mpazanje, who is heading the programme on the government side, confirmed that the bill is now in their hands, saying they are preparing to publicise it.
“Yes we have a draft bill from the consultants. We are consulting one of the local NGOs to publicise it on our behalf before the end of this month in order to get public opinion,” he said.
Mpazanje said the programme will start with Kamuzu and Queen Elizabeth Central hospitals. He added that the other central hospitals (Mzuzu and Zomba) will follow later after seeing how the system will work in the two hospitals.
Sources from government said the consultants have already prepared a cabinet paper summarising the contents of the bill.
The bill, among other things, proposes that the four hospitals should be run “on commercial lines” by a board of directors like parastatals to improve their efficiency.
Malawi Health Equity Network chairman Adamson Muula said government should come out clear on why they want to de-link central hospitals from the ministry, warning that while the move might indeed improve their efficiency, peoples’ access to good health services will be affected.
Muula said the system has failed in many countries in Africa, including Zambia, and government should explain why they think it will be successful in the country.
Mpazanje confirmed “the hospitals will to some extent work like parastatals” but said the autonomy will be mainly to do with their operations and management.
Mpazanje could not be drawn to discuss the matter further when asked why government has decided to go into an autonomy system, claiming the issue is not yet for public consumption until the bill has been publicised.
He also declined to indicate how soon the bill will go to Parliament, saying it will depend on the comments they will get from the public.
Opposition MCP vice president Nicholas Dausi said the move will hinder people’s right to good health care because “only few will afford the hospitals due to extreme poverty.”
“As a party we feel this is a step backwards and the ministry should not rush to send the bill to Parliament until after thorough consultation,” said Dausi who also is the party’s spokesman.
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