‘Motorcycle accidents often have a significant amount of force, which leads to the potential for broken bones. This, along with other motorcycle injuries, often requires significant medical attention, healing, and rehabilitation.’
About 3,000 kabaza accident victims are expected to go for major operations on their bones at the Lions Hospital in Lilongwe before the end of this year.
Chief Executive Officer for the Lions hospital, Sven Young, disclosed this in an interview on Thursday.
“Common motorcycle accidents at this hospital are broken bone injuries, which have complications. Motorcycle accidents often have a significant amount of force, which leads to the potential for broken bones. This, along with other motorcycle injuries, often requires significant medical attention, healing, and rehabilitation,” Young said.
He said since the opening of the hospital, the number of patients to be operated on has grown from 100 to over 200 patients per month.
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He expressed concern that if the motorcycles are not regulated, there would be more casualties and more operations.
According to Young, the number of patients admitted to the hospital has grown to the extent that 100 patients sleep on the floor.
Director of Infrastructure at the Ministry of Health Sanderson Kuyeri said that most of the kabaza accidents have serious fracture injuries that take time to heal, draining a lot of taxpayers’ money.
“Numerous types of breaks and fractures can occur after a motorcycle accident. Some types of fractures commonly found in these accidents include closed or simple fractures on both legs and arms. Most often, these injuries heal with casting and surgery, and many require rehabilitation and can take a long time to heal—limiting a person’s ability to work and increasing their need for care,” Kuyeri explained
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He said treatment of broken bones after a motorcycle accident often requires a lot of resources, and where the damage is significant, broken bone injuries can result in the need for artificial limbs or replacement joints.
“These developments can lead to more people with disabilities. Potential broken bone complications in an injury include poor or delayed healing, which means they may not be able to get back to their previous health or abilities quickly,” he said.
Health rights activist Maziko Matemba said it is regrettable that motorcycle accidents are becoming a burden to the Malawi health sector and the country.
“We want the law enforcement agencies to do the needful in managing this situation. We know most low-income families are benefiting from this business to feed their families but this needs to be managed,” Matemba said.
He said Malawi needs to act as a matter of urgency since the country already has many health care challenges that need resources.
