Medical staff in Malawi protest lack of safety gear and worsening work conditions

The southern African country has 16 reported cases of COVID-19 and two deaths due to the infection so far. A 21-day national lockdown was announced from April 18

April 15, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch
Malawi health workers COVID
Medical staff in Malawi protest in front of the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, on Tuesday. (Photo: Times 360 Malawi Twitter page)

Doctors and other medical staff in Malawi staged a sit-in protest on April 14, Tuesday, against the government’s failure to provision enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for safeguarding health workers in the country against the threat of COVID-19 while treating patients. The protest was organized in Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre. Protesters also condemned governmental failure to improve their working conditions.

The medical staff face a severe shortage of PPEs along with other medical supplies necessary to contain the spread of the infection.

Demanding better working conditions and adequate protective gear, nurses, doctors and other medical staff in Malawi went for strike action over the weekend. The National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives asked its members to end the strike and return to work on April 13, Monday, after securing assurances from the government.

However, videos of doctors and nurses in uniform protesting on Tuesday outside Blantyre’s Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital with placards and slogans saying “we are not going on suicide mission,” “Malawi government protect us, we will protect you”, and the like, have emerged on social media.   

Malawi in southern Africa has 16 reported cases of COVID-19 so far and two people have died since the first case was reported on April 2. Blantyre alone has around half of the country’s total reported cases. Most of the infected people have returned from abroad.  

Meanwhile, rumors following reports of the first cases have led to vigilante groups killing nine people, including some medical staff, on the suspicion of being “bloodsuckers,” Guardian reported on April 9.

On Tuesday, president Peter Mutharika announced a 21-day complete lockdown starting from April 18. He warned the citizens to follow the prescribed restrictions to avoid a larger catastrophe of an estimated 50,000 deaths.