Thirty-year-old Simau Chindeu’s life hangs in balance at Nsanje District Hospital as the institution is failing to transfer him to QECH in Blantyre after a supplier obtained a garnishee order to freeze district council’s bank accounts.
Chindeu was hit by a car at Nsanje Boma on Thursday, breaking his pelvis, district health officer (DHO) Medson Matchaya confirmed on Tuesday.
As we went to press, Chindeu had stayed five days without passing urine while his private parts were swelling as he awaits specialist attention at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH).
“We cannot’ do anything because of the garnishee order a supplier we already paid placed on our bank accounts. We only have 60 litres meant for our genset so far,” he said.
A supplier, Raymond Ngulube, obtained the order from the High Court on a debt Nsanje DHO claims was cleared in December 2012.
“If we run out of the fuel completely, it is disaster because we are also experiencing a lot of power outages in Nsanje. Now, imagine you are in darkness and a pregnant woman urgently needs caesarean section; it is disaster,” he said.
The order obtained on January 7 2013, has affected all government services in Nsanje, according to district commissioner Rodney Simwaka.
According to records, the supplier was paid through two cheques of K1 516 873.23 (about $4 461) on November 26 2012 and K702 977.70 (about $2 067) on December 22 2012.
