Experts highlight Covid-19 new wave risks

 Experts have decried low investment in the country’s health system and have expressed fear that Malawi cannot ably handle any new wave of Covid-19 given the current status of health infrastructure.

The experts propose i mprovements in infrastructure, personnel and equipment.

In separate interviews in the wake of a World Health Organisation (WHO) warning of a possibility of third and fourth waves, directors of central hospitals decried the continued inadequacy of permanent space and staff.

They said the situation was exposed in the management of the current second wave through little attention to other ailments as human resource could not manage. They also bemoaned inadequate equipment such as oxygen concentrators and cylinders.

WHO warned countries, including Malawi, against relaxing implementation of measures aimed at controlling further spread of Covid-19 in the face of vaccines, saying doing so may trigger a new and more catastrophic wave of the pandemic.

The vaccine, according to and public health experts, does not prevent people from contracting the pandemic, but only prevents severe disease, hospitalisation and reduces deaths.

In an interview on Tuesday, Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) director Jonathan Ngoma said the situation remains dire because most of the needs in hospitals are unmet.

He said lack of adequate infrastructure and personnel as well as oxygen plants would make any new fight difficult.

Said Ngoma: “Covid-19 has exposed the under investment in the health sector. We don’t have space, that’s why we found ourselves at the stadium. The system is in a state of collapse. At KCH, a place where we said should be a veranda is now turned into a ward.

“In 2021, we were not supposed to be hearing that so and so are donating oxygen, no! Hospitals are supposed to have this!”

To better handle any new wave, Ngoma suggested that infrastructure needs to improve, more health workers should be recruited and provided with adequate equipment and drugs.

Mzuzu Central Hospital director Frank Sinyiza also said the peak of the second saw health personnel failing to attend to all patients because of numbers.

He said: “That [lack of staff] has impact on delivery of routine services because apart from Covid we need to manage others. So, it created gaps.”

Without necessarily delving into the challenges that the system faces, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital director Samson Mndolo said he was hoping for the best with the coming of the vaccine.

“We do not want a repetition of what we have

 had, we have seen many cases and deaths, a lot of suffering in the communities,” he said.

Between April 2 2020 when the pandemic’s first cases were reported and December 31, Covid-19 killed 189 people or an average of 21 people monthly. But during the second wave from Janaury 1 2021 to date, about 900 people have died of Covid-19.

Society of Medical Doctors in Malawi president Victor Mithi said the availability of the vaccine is not a vehicle to relax the measures.

He warned that if a new severe wave comes, it will be worse than before because most of the country’s resources have been depleted with the economy struggling and the supply chain compromised.

On her part, public health expert Bridget Msolomba Malewezi noted the misconceptions surrounding the vaccine, which she said need clearing.

She said that with only about 60 percent of the getting the vaccine over an elongated period, many Malawians will still be at risk.

“It’s not time to relax. If the second wave comes, it will be catastrophic for our health system. It’s been a challenging thing, we have tried to increase bed capacity, but it has been a huge strain on the health workforce,” she said.

In an earlier interview, College of Medicine professor of public health and epidemiology Adamson Muula said current studies do not show that the vaccines prevent people from contracting the disease; hence, the need to continue observing preventive guidelines.

Addressing the WHO Covid-19 briefing last Friday, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was a mistake to think that falling death rates in some countries mean the pandemic is over.

He said: “While doing everything to roll out vaccines, aggressive use of preventive measures will be very crucial.”

President Lazarus Chakwera is today set to launch the Covid-19 vaccination by publicly taking the first jab at Zomba State Lodge field hospital. Vice-President Saulos Chilima is also set to do the same in Mzuzu today as a way of getting a buy-in from the public.