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Pregnant women who do not pay bribes are left without maternity services in Lichinga
3:26 CAT | 02 Jul 2018
DW / Maternity services of the Provincial Hospital of Lichinga.
A complaint has been made by users of the maternity services of the Provincial Hospital of Lichinga, in the Province of Niassa, Northern Mozambique, that pregnant women who do not pay bribes, either do not have access services or are poorly served.
It is an illegal practice that authorities are aware of, nevertheless there are still nurses and midwives charging for their services in the two
existing maternity wards at the referral hospital in the city of Lichinga.
The complaint has been made by users who refused to divulge their names for fear of reprisals, during an interview with DW Africa. They said that without paying a bribe, the expecting mothers are poorly served or may even go unattended.
“Without ‘shaking the capulana'” there is no assistance
One of the patients tells her story: “My mother had to leave me to look for the midwives. She had to ask them to come and attend to me, one of them came, she observed me and said that the baby was far and left, I had to be operated on, my mother then asked them to wait a little and observe me but they went to sleep and left us alone, without care. ”
If her mother had no money, she adds, she would have lost a daughter. “The midwife said ‘if you do not shake your capulana, your daughter will not be taken care of’. My mother didn’t understand Portuguese and I had to explain to her that they wanted money. My mother replied: ‘You may assist her, I have 500 meticais`. They said that 500 meticais was not enough, and my mother said, `That is all I have, and if I had more at home, I would run and fetch it`. That is when they took me in and gave me the serum and I had the baby, only after my mother had given them 500 meticais.”
Direction ensures that they are taking action
500 meticais is the equivalent of 7 euros. José Manuel, provincial director of health in Niassa, says that he is aware of the phenomenon, but that it is difficult to act because there are no official complaints: “We, as a health sector, have been open to articulation with all necessary entities, because combating corruption is a key point for the health sector, ” he says, stressing that “the fight against corruption requires the intervention of all. ”
Patients can report directly to health facilities, according to the Provincial Director, in the perspective of prevention and in an attempt to detect and solve these cases, José Manuel explained, “platforms have been created in all health units so that, if the citizens pays a fee for a health service, they can promptly report the matter” .
The official warns that employees who are caught receiving or demanding illicit charges, that they will be expelled from the health care system as a way to discourage others from engaging in such activities.
Source: Deutsche Welle
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