Africa-Press – Malawi. About three months after The Daily Times published a story headlined ‘Surviving Sugar Disease in Rural Areas’, in which the problem of unavailability of essential medical items for managing diabetes was exposed in Lirangwe, Blantyre, healthcare service delivery officials seem to have upped their game.
In the story, The Daily Times indicated that some healthcare service facilities in rural areas had run out of glucometers, a problem that has persisted for months.
It also revealed that resource-poor patients were being referred to private hospitals to access services. In the worst case scenario, drugs were being administered to patients without testing them.
However, some of the patients lamented that they were being forced to pay a monthly fee for sugar-level tests at the private healthcare service facilities.
At the time, Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe admitted that some rural areas were, indeed, experiencing intermittent supply of diabetes testing kits.
“Yes, recently we have had situations whereby we have been running out of diabetes testing kits in most of our health facilities since we didn’t have the kits at Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST). The Ministry of Health is aware of this, and we are trying our best so that CMST stocks the testing kits,” he said.
The situation has since changed, however. Now, diabetic patients at Lirangwe Health Centre, for example, can afford a smile. One of the patients who The Daily Times interviewed earlier, Edda Ngumbo, confirmed that she was now able to access the services.
“Finally, we can get our sugar levels tested after coughing K500 notes or more every month for the past eight months because the nearest health clinic, Lirangwe Health Centre, did not have testing kits. K500 is a lot of money, especially in the village where we barely drink tea because we cannot afford a packet of sugar,” she said.
A healthcare worker at the health facility, who is not allowed to speak to the media on behalf of the hospital, confirmed the development. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2019, diabetes was the direct cause of 1.5 million deaths and 48 percent of all deaths due to diabetes occurred before the age of 70 years.
WHO says about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, the majority of whom live in low and medium-income countries. Matilda Chimwaza Majawa is a Features Reporter at Times Group. She is passionate about women and girls empowerment.
For More News And Analysis About Malawi Follow Africa-Press
