A heartbreaking situation has emerged at Mangochi District Hospital, where three children have died after the facility went three days without electricity, leaving critical medical services paralysed.
Cables can confidently reveal .
Sources at the hospital have told Cables that the facility ran out of ESCOM electricity units on Tuesday afternoon and remained without power as of Thursday evening.
The prolonged blackout has reportedly severely affected the delivery of essential healthcare services, particularly the treatment of critically ill patients who depend on machines to survive.
In a deeply distressing account, one health worker told this publication that three children died on Thursday night after medical personnel failed to provide them with oxygen support because of the power outage.
“Last night (Thursday), three children died because we failed to put them on oxygen machines due to the power outage. In these three days, we have lost several lives because of this problem,” the health worker said.
However, Mangochi District Health Officer Henry Chibowa attributed the power outage to the installation of new oxygen plant machines at the hospital, which he said require high electricity consumption.
While the installation of an oxygen plant is intended to strengthen healthcare delivery, the reported deaths have raised troubling questions about contingency measures and the availability of alternative power supplies to keep life-saving equipment operational.
For families who brought their children to hospital hoping for treatment and a chance at survival, the reported tragedy is particularly painful.
A hospital should be a place where lives are protected, not where patients are left vulnerable because essential services cannot function.
Cable Malawi understands that the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths and the hospital’s prolonged power outage require serious intervention from health authorities.
About the Author
