Lack of Doctor at Mwange refugee camp cripples operation
By Brenda Zulu in Mporokoso
There is no Doctor to attend to over 17,990 refugees based at Mwange Refugee Camp situated 35 Km West of Mporokoso.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Senior Field Clerk Roy Mwamba said they have faced the challenge of recruiting a doctor. He said that it has been difficult to recruit a Doctor as they have been demanding to be paid between K15 and K20 million a month.
Mwamba said the problem was further perpetuated by Mporokoso District Health Doctor who does not want to attend to refugees making all referrals to Kasama very difficult. He said the problem has been going on since the beginning of this year. He added that the Doctor has further refused to attend to refugee patients. By Press Time the Doctor was reported to be in Lusaka.
Meanwhile, Zambia Red Cross (ZRCS) Project Coordinator for Mwange refugee project David Phiri said the health sector at Mwange Refugee Camp lacks the Zambian Human Resource.
“Currently we have six workers instead of 12. We are less compared to the population at Mwange,” said Phiri. He added that it has been difficult to recruit and retain health staff at Mwange Refugee Camp attributing this to brain drain which has crippled the health sector.
He pointed out that there was an overload for Midwives in doing their job as Mwange Refugee Camp had a high birth rate and recorded between 80 to 90 births a day.
Phiri observed the deliveries were many for five midwives where there is currently only one Zambian and the other four are Congolese. Previously they had 17 midwives but the number reduced following the repatriation of refugees last year.
Constraints highlighted in the ZRCS Mwange Refugee Operation Joint Inter Agency Report include the delay in procurements and shipping of Medical, non medical laboratory supplies by UNHCR.
Mwange Camp Health sector has one facility which caters for the whole camp and the local Zambian community. Mwange Health provides curative health care, preventive and reproductive health activities including HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and TB and Leprosy.
Meanwhile, Mwange Senior Clinical Officer Richard Bwalya said he would like see refugees get fully immunised before their repatriation this year as he was not sure weather this was done in Congo DR.
Bwalya bemoaned the delay in the procurement for the full immunisation of the refugees from the District Health Office. By Press Time the District Health Officer for Mporokoso was reported to have been in Lusaka.
On HIV/AIDS, Bwalya said that they had a very low prevalence rate of 1.2% as they only have 7 people receiving ARVs. He added that there was no report of any disease outbreaks in the camp and the transit centres.
By Brenda Zulu in Mporokoso
There is no Doctor to attend to over 17,990 refugees based at Mwange Refugee Camp situated 35 Km West of Mporokoso.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Senior Field Clerk Roy Mwamba said they have faced the challenge of recruiting a doctor. He said that it has been difficult to recruit a Doctor as they have been demanding to be paid between K15 and K20 million a month.
Mwamba said the problem was further perpetuated by Mporokoso District Health Doctor who does not want to attend to refugees making all referrals to Kasama very difficult. He said the problem has been going on since the beginning of this year. He added that the Doctor has further refused to attend to refugee patients. By Press Time the Doctor was reported to be in Lusaka.
Meanwhile, Zambia Red Cross (ZRCS) Project Coordinator for Mwange refugee project David Phiri said the health sector at Mwange Refugee Camp lacks the Zambian Human Resource.
“Currently we have six workers instead of 12. We are less compared to the population at Mwange,” said Phiri. He added that it has been difficult to recruit and retain health staff at Mwange Refugee Camp attributing this to brain drain which has crippled the health sector.
He pointed out that there was an overload for Midwives in doing their job as Mwange Refugee Camp had a high birth rate and recorded between 80 to 90 births a day.
Phiri observed the deliveries were many for five midwives where there is currently only one Zambian and the other four are Congolese. Previously they had 17 midwives but the number reduced following the repatriation of refugees last year.
Constraints highlighted in the ZRCS Mwange Refugee Operation Joint Inter Agency Report include the delay in procurements and shipping of Medical, non medical laboratory supplies by UNHCR.
Mwange Camp Health sector has one facility which caters for the whole camp and the local Zambian community. Mwange Health provides curative health care, preventive and reproductive health activities including HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and TB and Leprosy.
Meanwhile, Mwange Senior Clinical Officer Richard Bwalya said he would like see refugees get fully immunised before their repatriation this year as he was not sure weather this was done in Congo DR.
Bwalya bemoaned the delay in the procurement for the full immunisation of the refugees from the District Health Office. By Press Time the District Health Officer for Mporokoso was reported to have been in Lusaka.
On HIV/AIDS, Bwalya said that they had a very low prevalence rate of 1.2% as they only have 7 people receiving ARVs. He added that there was no report of any disease outbreaks in the camp and the transit centres.
Labels: Doctor, Mwange refuge camp, Red Cross, Zambia
posted by Brenda Nglazi Zulu at 4:38 AM
5 Comments:
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Great blog, Brenda.
Refugee situations certainly are difficult with such limited funding and such a large amount of services/support needed. The health implications observed when there is no doctor to treat an entire community can be massive and it's important that we all try to get qualified and dedicated doctors to such places.
However, I've been to Mwange and I am routinely impressed by the way the residents have organized and do everything they can to keep their community strong through such hard times. FORGE (www.FORGEnow.org), which works in Mwange, does a great job of incorporating the communities into the solutions. People from all over the world can add ideas and infrastructure to help push along development, but it's only when the community feels a sense of ownership and empowerment that important messages like education and HIV prevention can really take off.
Thanks for your dedication and coverage.
Greetings comrade brenda, this is Molefi Ndlovu from SA-IMC; we met breifly in Lilongwe three years ago. Here's a sound-bite from SASF Manzini session recently, please distribute to other networks or add to SASF media records. hope this is in oerder.
Warm regard from the rebelllion in SA.
http://durbansings.wordpress.com/2009/07/05/southern-african-social-forum-manzini-swaziland
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Brenda! and all the warriors for social justice this note aimed at drawing your attention to the DRBAN SINGS audio media and oral history project.
we're reading with interest and compassion to all your good work and correspondences across the net… while, on our ends, deeply involved in driving along local audio media activist productions around eThekwini (Durban SA)… we are currently sailing full sails with a DURBAN SINGS call-for-contributions: "REMIXING AFRICAN ORAL HISTORY for a global audience". perhaps you've seen it up-and running… on www.durbansings.wordpress.com
we'll be producing an interactive DVD that will include the contributions and remixes to the project. we'd like to warmly invite all the brothers and sisters across Southern Africa ainvolved in producing alternative media lists and wires to lend your professional skills to the young DURBAN SINGS audio-media editors and producers by sending us small productions and remixes in response to our on-line audio archives. please pass on the word…! and thank you for listening.
We look forward corresponding and exchanging ideas and productions with you.
warmest greetings from eThekwini
DURBAN SINGS editors
motho and radio continental drift
molefindlovu@yahoo.com, long_walk_abridged@yahoo.co.uk
*ARTISTS, MUSICIANS, DESIGNERS, RAPTIVISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, FILMMAKERS ! your creative donation will support the on-going work of the DURBAN SINGS collectives in Africa, a network of young cultural activists originating from the townships around Durban.
* COLLECTIVES OF CULTURAL ACTIVISTS AROUND THE WORLD ! your creative donations can be the start of an on-going correspondence and productive exchange with like-minded organisations in Southern Africa.
* WRITERS, RESEARCHERS, POETS, SCHOLARS! donating your creative and analytical skills to the work of the young cultural activists in Durban can support them in their efforts and enlighten the awareness about cultural activism across the borders of a divided world.
this is an open call for listeners contributions. for your response to be included in this year’s DURBAN SINGS publication the deadline is: 31 March 2010
DURBAN SINGS is a regional audio media and oral history project with a story to tell. Using street recordings and internet audio archiving to create an open platform for contributions and remixes from artists and activists around the world. DURBAN SINGS is a sound network joining hemispheres via audio correspondence between listeners; building a listening bridge between communities, artists and activist groups in KZN and the rest of the world.
http://durbansings.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/call-for-contributions/
http://durbansings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/durban-sings-call-poster-final-1.pdf
http://www.archive.org/details/DurbanSingsARoughRadioMix
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