Woman in Malawi Forced to Carry Corpse of Child on Her Back Due to Lack of Transportation Services at Hospital

It was a sad day in Malawi, as a woman was forced to carry the corpse of a child on her back because the facilities at Dowa District Hospital lacked transport services. The woman along with other women, were forced to walk back to the village with the body of the dead child.

Nyasa Times reports that one of the women said that they decided to carry the body back because the funeral had to commence. Although there were some vehicles available at the hospital, they had no money to hire a car.

“This is not the first times, it’s happening more often. Even senior dead people, they are being carried home on shoulders without an ambulance,” said the woman.

In a related case, patients at Nkhotakota District Hospital have faced the same problems as the medical facility has just one functioning ambulance which carries patients from rural health centers allocated across the district.

Clinical superintendent Jimmy Phiri said the hospital provides services to a population of over 400 000, but they are faced with many challenges. He complained that inadequate funding is the reason the facility had to cut down on some of the services.

The Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe, could not comment on the issue.

Photo Credit: Nyasa Times