Chilenje hospital a danger to the public
Lungu commissions Chilenje Hospital – Photo by Courtesy of State House
Brian Mulenga writes:
My niece Kumba is in the female ward at CHilenje Hospital. She was rushed there by a neighbour, nearly comatose and close to death on Saturday afternoon.
A clinical officer attended to her and put her on a drip and reserved a bed space for her in the ward. Four hours later, she was still lying in casualty.
What was witnessed at CHilenje hospital between 1400 and 1800 hours by my wife, who also works for the Ministry of Health, and my two nieces sounds like a horror story and leads me to demand an immediate internal inquiry by Ministry of Health officials of the goings on at CHilenje First Level Hospital.
A nine-year-old boy cursed the nurses at the Institution and called them stupid as they neglected to treat him for three hours.
A mother with a child who was close to death by dehydration was ordered to go and find mineral water in order for the nurses to make ORS, meanwhile, it seems their station had a kettle nearby for making tea. My wife gave up her bottle of mineral water and it was peremptorily returned as being not enough water.
A boy who had swallowed pesticide was declared well by a sarcastic nurse without examination, who said someone dying from poison cannot be running around
My niece meanwhile lay in casualty while all this drama was going on. Then the clinical officer who had changed and was ready to go home saw her. He asked my wife whether lab tests had been done and why was the bed space delayed ? We don’t know my wife answered and the clinical officer who despite being off duty hustled around got the tests done and finally moved my niece to the ward.
This morning I find a story of how a person injured in an RTA in Woodlands was refused treatment until a police report was produced. What is going on at CHilejne Hospital?
CHilenje Hospital in its former guise of Chilenje Clinic used to be very notorious and had incidences of women giving birth in a taxi after being turned away from CHilenje, nurses being assaulted by irate patients and so on. Has this culture of indifference and laziness persisted at CHilenje?
There are also allegations that staff abscond from the Hospital and leave students on duty. There is even a bottle store in the neighbourhood which is alleged to be a haunt of on-duty staff from the hospital.