Medical Council of Malawi (MCM) has fined Mwaiwathu Hospital in Blantyre for hiring a practitioner with no private practice licence and has suspended operations at Lilongwe Adventist Hospital for failing to recruit appropriate anesthesia staff.
The Medical Council of Malawi has also disciplined eight medical practitioners, including Gynecologist, Dr Enerlin Maranan Istwing of Blantyre Adventist Hospital for failing to appropriately manage a pregnant patient’s medical condition.
MCM registrar and chief executive officer Davie Zolowere has said in a statement that the action is in line with the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act number 17 of 1987.
He said resumption of operations at Lilongwe Adventist will depend on recruitment of appropriate anesthesia staff.
The other hospitals disciplined are Blantyre Adventist Hospital for contributing to Istwing’s malpractice and Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Kapiri Community Hospital for providing ARVs to a patient without confirming HIV status.
The council has also issued warnings to Geoffrey Mwalabu, an anesthesia clinical officer and Dr Kondwani Manda, an Orthopedic Surgeon, for refusing to provide anesthesia to a patient and non-adherence to referral protocol and for failing to profile a patient adequately preoperatively respectively.
Elias Tilika who is a clinical officer has been erased from the medical practitioners’ register for performing procedure beyond his scope of practice. He has also been recommended for prosecution for receiving money for free services. Joseph Majawa, an anesthesia nurse, has also been deregistered for a year for assisting Tilika in the procedure.
Mrs Waluza, an anesthesia clinical officer, has been fined for practicing in a private hospital without a private practice licence.
Zolowere said out of 13 cases heard during this hearing, three had not guilty verdicts, 8 had guilty verdicts, one was referred to the Nurses and Midwives Council while another one was referred to the Labour court.
