The National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives in Malawi (NONM) has complained of increased attacks and abuses on its members in the health facilities across the country, as nurses may withdraw from all the health facilities until they are assured of their safety.

General Secretary for Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) Denis Kalekeni reported an incident at Queen Elizabeth in which a nurse was molested and physically assaulted by a group of guardians of a patient who was admitted there. The nurse was controlling human traffic in the ward as one of the Covid-19 precautionary measures, when she was attacked by the group. “We condemn the vice in the strongest terms, and should the nurses stage a stay away because of workplace abuses, the MCTU will call on all of its members to join in solidarity,” Kalekeni said.

On the other hand, healthcare workers who had gone to one village to bury a Covid-19 victim were also chased away in Machinga last month, while an ambulance carrying a body of a person who had died of Covid-19 in Mchinji, was stoned by people there. NONM president Shouts Simeza said yesterday that reports they have received indicate that such acts are being perpetrated by guardians and social media users due to misconceptions about Covid-19 among other reasons.