By Pemphero Malimba:
Some of the diabetic patients who access dialysis services and are admitted to Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe have expressed concern over the diet they are being offered at the facility.
This is a group of 22 people who were, in October this year, transferred from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre to the facility to access dialysis services following the breakdown of dialysis equipment at QECH.
Some of the patients claim that the facility has, for a month, been serving them with nsima, beans and cabbage, a diet which, they claim, is not suitable for their condition.
“Our condition does not require one to be eating a lot of foods that contain proteins. These foods affect our condition and, instead of getting better, our situation worsens,” one of the patients said.
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Another patient, who opted for anonymity, claimed that, previously, the hospital used to offer them recommended foods.
“That time, we were being given beans, cabbage, eggs, meat, just to mention a few, but this stopped and it is now a month since we started getting nsima with beans in the afternoon and evening on daily basis,” the source said.
Another patient said the concerned service seekers requested hospital authorities to change the diet but that no action had been taken.
Another patient appealed for support from well-wishers.
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“If other people may come forward to assist us with some recommended foods, we will appreciate the gesture,” said the patient.
The source said those hugely affected are the ones who arrived at the facility from QECH on October 20 2024.
“If we had resources and relatives around, we could be getting the required diet easily but most of us are coming from far away and most of us do not have money to buy the necessary foods on our own,” the source said.
On Monday night, one of the patients updated The Daily Times that they had received nsima with cabbage.
KCH spokesperson Winnie Yotamu was yet to respond to our questions on the matter at the time we went to bed.
However, reports indicate that the problem has cropped up due to funding challenges.
Recently, a group of food suppliers for the facility announced plans to suspend supplying food to the facility as it was owing them K600 million dating from 2022.
Speaking during a KCH and suppliers’ negotiations meeting held in Lilongwe, KCH Controller of Health and Administrative Support Services Yohane Bilesi asked the suppliers to provide the facility with time, up to February this year, to seek support from the Central Government.
Bilesi disclosed that the facility gets K52 million for food monthly, which, he said, was inadequate to cover all the food needs and expenses for the facility.
Meanwhile, health rights activist Maziko Matemba has challenged health authorities to address the matter urgently.
“There have been a lot of reforms in the health sector, including in cases where you are referring a patient from one facility to another. If, indeed, there is a gap, the government should come in and see how they can support the patients,” Matemba said.
