President Lazarus Chakwera has been urged to declare Malawi a state of national disaster and call for support from the international community over the cholera outbreak.
Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa said in a statement that Chakwera’s administration needs to seek support and end the careless approach in handling cholera which currently equates to criminal negligence.
“We demand that President Chakwera should immediately declare cholera a national disaster and call for support from the international community. The call for local support is already late,” said Namiwa.
In Malawi, 704 deaths have died of cholera and 21, 024 cases have been recorded since March. Currently, 860 are admitted in various treatment units across the country.
In recent weeks, health workers have been complaining of lack of medical supplies for the fight against the disease. Various reports also indicate that guardians of cholera are being asked to pay money for their patients to be treated or to buy cholera kits elsewhere.
According to Namiwa, it was discovered last month that government had only bought 200 out of the required 1.2 million doses of IV fluids, especially Ringers Lactate used to treat cholera.
“Actually, not even the bare minimum is being achieved in providing resources to treat cholera patients and, also, stop the spread of the outbreak,”he said.
Meanwhile, Government yesterday released a statement in which it asked for donations in form of cash or medical supplies to help in the fight against cholera.
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