Lasting solutions needed to end Mwananyamala's problems

SIMBARASHE MSASANURI
Dar es Salaam

It never rains but pours for Mwananyamala hospital as the dust form the latest crisis, discovery of ten babies buried in one grave that stunned the whole country, is far from settling. On the other hand, the committee set up to probe the barbaric act is still to present its findings while debate continues raging on over its composition.

Though the hospital is now under relatively new hands - after the government transferred a good number of staff including top management - it seems as if the ghost of a bad reputation continues haunting the institution, well-known for the wrong reasons.

Service delivery had reached rock bottom at the hospital, where negligence, corruption, greedy and unethical behaviour by some medical staff had become the order of the day. The hospital during that time was widely condemned by the general public, civil society and some government officials who could not stomach the situation that was fast becoming dangerous for patients.

A dim light became visible at the end of this dark tunnel when on April 12, 2010, the then Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr. William Lukuvi, announced through media that 96 health workers at Mwananyamala hospital had been transferred to other working stations, majority within the Dar es Salaam region, attributing the transfer to the longstanding poor health care service provision at the hospital.

But, in a rejoinder, Sikika, a non governmental organisation reacted to the transfers condemning the move, highlighting that it was not the solution to the problem.

“We doubt if mere shuffling of staff around Dar es Salaam region is the right solution to those problems. Citizens are experiencing same problems in almost all public facilities in Dar es Salaam region. Historically, transfer would usually spread the vices. Again, this particular transfer seem to have punished bad and good workers, which is unjust, and therefore an indication of a weak management,” said Sikika Executive Director, Irenei Kiria, in a press statement.

He added that service users had complained about poor quality service delivery at Mwananyamala hospital (and other public health facilities) for years, regarding malpractices, negligence, unfriendly attitude of service providers, unavailability of medicines and diagnostic equipment, bribery, overcrowding, and long waiting period to be served.

Instead, Sikika called for measures such as ensuring timely availability of quality working tools including medicines, equipment and supplies; improve pay and benefits of all cadres at health facilities and strengthened hospital management and administration including corrective action against health workers who maltreat patients and whose performance is unsatisfactory, among others.

And, as if to vindicate Sikika for condemning the transfers, problems have recurred barely a year after the transfers.

The inhuman, unAfrican and barbaric act of not only burying ten infants in a rubbish pit, passed as a grave, but also placing them in one grave revealed how far a person can go, throwing all manners to the dogs, for the love for money.

It is romoured that the horrifying find was the work of wayward Mwananyamala hospital staff, who colluded with the mothers of the babies and was paid to dispose the bodies of the children who had died shortly after birth.

The government reacted swiftly by appointing an investigating team that has been a subject of debate among citizens as its composition leaves a lot to be desired. The inclusion of a police officer and doctors from Mwananyamala and other hospitals was seen as tantamount to watering down the investigations.

Sikika, was one of the organisations that condemned the composition of the committee, calling for the immediate dissolution of the committee. Speaking during a press conference, Kiria called on the government to pick a new independent committee, whose members should not include Mwananyamala hospital and Kinondoni municipality.

“There is no way Mwananyamala hospital and Kinondoni municipality can escape liability. It is they who should be investigated,” Kiria said.

He said that the fact that infants' bodies resulted from abortions or miscarriages was “no justification to throw them into a garbage pit in a residential area.”

He went on to urge the police to ignore the committee formed and independently conduct thorough investigations and bring the suspects to book without fear and favour.

With the whole country waiting with bated breath for the answers to the Mwananyamala hospital drama, fears are that the presence of those believed to be the accused in the committee might compromise investigations and at the end concealing vital informing, misleading the public.

Time has come for the government to take decisive measures on their problem child, Mwananyamala hospital, as it continues to tarnish the image of the medical profession by being notorious for scandals. Though the health sector is bedeviled by many problems, the government should strive to 'clean up' all troubled spots for the betterment of health delivery and for wananchi's sake.