District Nursing Midwifery officer at Bwaila hospital, Bertha Mwale Kaudza says the hospital is overwhelmed with abortion cases as the hospital gets about 268 post abortion cases per month referred to the facility, most of which are complications emanating from unsafe abortions.
The Officer said this during a study tour that Family Planning Association of Malawi, FPAM in conjunction with European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF) organized for Members of Parliament (MPs) from European Countries to appreciate how sexual and reproductive health issues are facilitated in the country.
Kaudza said Bwaila hospital is not enough for the Lilongwe population because the time the facility was constructed it was intended for a small population and only for offering gynecology services and delivery. But with the inclusion of sexual and reproductive health services, there are more clients coming for admissions.
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“I really appreciate the visit of parliamentarians from European Countries so that we can show them how we are handling the sexual and reproductive health issues at our facility, we are receiving a lot of post abortion cases which means that as a country we need to do more in offering sexual and reproductive health services especially on family planning,” said Kaudza
Commenting on the same, Savel Kafwafwa, member of Malawi parliament and chair for social and community affairs committee of parliament said Malawi as a country is struggling in several areas including sexual and reproductive health issues that is why the hospital is seeing a lot of unsafe abortion cases emanating from unwanted pregnancies.
“We can see the evidence at the facility that the hospital is overwhelmed as we see a lot of admitted clients being helped on the floor and even sleeping there. Many of these cases here are clients coming for post abortion cases and as members of parliament we need to make sure that the population is educated on sexual and reproductive health issues as well as have enough supplies on family planning to reduce unwanted pregnancies,” he said.
Before visiting Bwaila District Hospital, the Members of Parliament from European Countries had a caucus with some Malawian Members of Parliament in the member’s chamber at parliament building where the two sides discussed the status of sexual and reproductive health issues in the country.
Members of parliament from Romania, Finland, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium expressed gratitude to have travelled to Malawi and appreciate the sexual and reproductive health services so that they can see how they can come in to help reduce the cases of unwanted pregnancies through family planning services.
“With this opportunity of visiting Malawi we will see how we can improve the progress of sexual and reproductive health issues, as we heard in the meeting with MPs that education is key to dealing with sexual and reproductive health issues, we hope to lobby for more help in SRH education when we go back home,’ said Laurence Zanchetta, member of parliament from Finland.
The MPs from European Countries are part of European Parliamentary forum, a network of parliamentarians across Europe who are committed to protecting the sexual and reproductive health of the world’s most vulnerable population.
By Kumbukani Kondowe
